


Heart to Heart

by Cosmos1126



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Long Lost/Secret Relatives
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:21:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 35,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25675003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cosmos1126/pseuds/Cosmos1126
Summary: She isn't quite sure how, but perhaps Fairy Tail's insanity may just help heal her Heart. That and a certain Fairy in particular. And now that she's found her, no one is ever going to take her away again. (Rating may change in later chapters) (Set during canon, approximately after Phantom Lord arc)





	1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone, Cosmos here. So I decided to post my Fairy Tail fic Heart to Heart here on Ao3 because why not.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, all rights are reserved for Hiro Mashima and affiliates.**

**Chapter one: Hidden Figure, Hidden Heart**

* * *

The sun shining bright above belies the melancholy atmosphere surround Oshibana Memorial Cemetery. A figure stands alone in the graveyard, their frame mostly concealed by a long, black hooded cloak.

Kneeling in front of a headstone, a figure wearing a black cloak that shields their face from view smiles bitterly. “Hi Mom, Dad. I came to say hi, and to tell you that I did it. I finally found her, after all these years.” They place two bouquets of flowers on the graves, gently tracing the names engraved on the stone.

“It’s funny, you know? We found her, just like we always wanted.” The figure’s bitter smile drops into a trembling frown. “But it still doesn’t feel right. I didn’t want it like this. Not without you.” Sniffling, the figure wipes at their nose before dabbing at their tears with their shirt sleeve. “I, uh, I mastered a new spell today. You’d be so proud. It nearly wrecked half of a field, I hope no one finds out...” Standing to their full height, they give the graves one last soft look.

“I’ll be back soon. I love you both.” The figure walks away, head held high.

...

Hours later, a gossip circle is abuzz with the latest scoop in the streets of Magnolia.

“ _Oh my god_ , Kristen! Did you hear there’s apparently a new wizard who can use the same Magic as Fairy Tail’s Titania?” Behind the wall of a nearby building, a hooded figure grins. _Bingo_ , they think. Carefully eavesdropping so as to not be discovered, they keep an ear on the gossip.

“No way! I thought she was the only person in the world who could use The Knight!”

“Seriously? It’s hard to imagine anyone with the same Magic as Titania. Do you think this new wizard is like, a good person?”

“It’s hard to say. No one knows anything about them, except that they’re apparently an S-Class Mage of the True Heart guild. But, I do hope this new person is a good wizard. Fairy Tail deserves a break, especially with what happened with Phantom Lord. You know I heard they took in two of Phantom’s Element Four after the big showdown?”

“Yes! I heard that the girl they got, Juvia, has a crush on Gray!”

The first girl gasps, “ _No!_ You’ve got to be kidding me!” Her two friends laugh at her as the villagers continue on with their day, utterly used to gossip by now. With a high-profile guild like Fairy Tail residing in their town, gossip and rumor follows quickly behind, and they’ve had years to get used to it.

From their hiding place, the figure disappears into the shadows, satisfied. They’d heard enough.

…

The Fairy Tail guild towers imposingly over the town of Magnolia, only matched by the Kardia Cathedral. The structure is akin to a castle than the cozy tavern-like building the figure remembers seeing from an article of Sorcerer’s Weekly. Steeling their nerves with a deep breath, the figure strolls under the gate emblazoned with the guild’s name.

Opening the large double doors, the figure strolls inside and walks straight up to Mirajane Strauss, Fairy Tail’s poster girl and former S-Class Mage. “Excuse me, is Erza Scarlet here?”

The white-haired barmaid, confused, examines the hooded figure. Clearly female, short in stature, but she can feel the magic power within this girl. It’s calm and stable, but there. And it’s quite powerful. Still confused, but willing to comply for now, she points to the redheaded wizard, who is seated at the bar, delightedly savoring a piece of strawberry cake, entirely ignoring the brawl between Natsu Dragneel and Gray Fullbuster behind her. The hooded figure smiles, thanking the woman, and strolls through the tables towards the bar.

As they pass, murmurs begin all around as Fairy Tail members turn from their activities to observe the individual. The murmurs turn into full-on whispers of shock as they see the girl coming closer to the redhead. She calmly waits for the girl to finish her dessert, before tapping her on the shoulder, waiting once again for her to turn around.

“Erza Scarlet?”

“Yes?” The girl acknowledges, her tone still polite, despite the suspicion laced through it.

Tossing the hood back from her face, scarlet hair tumbles down the figure’s back to her hips, framing a soft face with dark brown eyes, rosy cheeks and heart-shaped lips, smiling gently. “I believe we have a few things to discuss.”

* * *

**Wow! What a shock! If you're interested, tune in for chapter two. Like this rewrite? Hate it? Tell me what you think.**

**-Cosmos**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, all rights are reserved for Hiro Mashima and affiliates.**

**Chapter two: The Reveal**

* * *

Erza stared at the girl in shock, her eyes all but focused on the identical scarlet hair on her head. "I.." She trailed off, utterly at a loss for words. It was an odd sight, to see Titania Erza caught so off-guard, so completely speechless. The girl smiles brightly.

Mirajane steps up, clearly still confused, but willing to diffuse the situation as quickly as possible. "Perhaps this conversation would be better suited in the Master's office?" She suggested, deciding that trying to figure out just what the _devil_ was going on would only give her a headache the size of Iceberg.

The two redheads nod and let the silver-haired barmaid escort them up the stairs to Master Makarov's office. "Master, it's Mirajane. There's someone here who'd like to speak with you in private."

"Come in, Mira," The Master allows. As the three women walk in the room, the figure can't help but notice all the papers strewn about on the old man's desk. Letter after letter, with the Magic Council's official stamp on them. Absently, she gets the feeling that those are damage complaint letters. "What can I do for ya?" He asks, shoving aside a letter demanding an apology, to give the three his full attention. According to the letter, Gray Fullbuster had taken a job in Oak Town, successfully defeated his opponent, although he froze the steps to the Mayor's office, and he later paraded around the town naked. The girl bites back a snicker. That would certainly explain the boy downstairs who had somehow ditched his shirt and pants in the maybe _five minutes_ it took her to reach Erza from the door.

"This young lady came in asking for Erza. It seems as though she knows her, though Erza doesn't seem to recognize her." Mirajane explained.

"Is this true, young lady?" Makarov asked, turning his attention to the youngest in the room. He noted that aside for a few facial differences and age of course, she was a dead ringer for Erza. The resemblance is absolutely uncanny.

She nodded. "Yes, sir. My name is Anna Crawford, and my parents and I had been searching for Miss Scarlet for eleven years. I recently heard rumors of a red-haired Queen of the Fairies and hoped it was who I thought it was. Needless to say, I'm sure you can only imagine just how glad I am to say that my wish came true."

"Is that so?" Makarov stroked his white mustache thoughtfully. "And just who is Erza to you?"

Anna smiles, utterly unbothered by the questions. After all, it's what she came here for. "She's my older sister."

There's a beat of pure silence, and then Master Makarov sticks his pinky in his ear, trying to clear out some wax. Surely he'd heard this young woman wrong, yes? "I'm sorry, repeat that please?" He was under the impression that Erza had been an orphan who had escaped from slavery in the Tower of Heaven as a child.

"I said Erza Scarlet is my older sister." She repeats, tilting her head to the side. "Why? Is something wrong?" She asks.

Erza looks terribly confused, as anyone in her situation would be. "I hate to interrupt, and I apologize if this offends you, I don't remember having parents. I grew up parent-less in Rosemary Village."

"Well, you did grow up in Rosemary Village, but not necessarily without parents. You have parents-well, _had_ parents." The young lady looks down to the ground, solemn. "They were killed back when I was twelve. Those damn wyverns sure pack a punch, eh?" She jokes humorlessly, boring holes into the floor with a thousand-yard-stare. Clearing his throat to gain her attention, Makarov frowns.

"And just who were your parents, Miss Crawford?" He inquires. Thankfully, his question seems to pull her out of whatever unpleasant memory she was stuck in, and she shakes her head to clear it and refocus.

"My parents were Erik and Melissa Crawford, sir. They belonged to the True Heart guild, along with myself." She answers easily, showing off her guild emblem with obvious pride. It's on her right arm, in the shape of a heart formed from the letters T and H, and deep crimson in color. Unsurprisingly, the color of the emblem matches Erza's hair perfectly.

Noting this, Makarov hums in his throat. He isn't quite sure if she's telling the truth, but is willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, for now. But he's willing to bet she might actually be telling the truth since only a true sociopath would concoct a story like the one she had told of her parents' demise. Her magic and general aura is much too stable for her to be insane. He _can_ sense a limiter, though. He may have to ask her about that shortly. "Well, not to say I don't believe you, but I _will_ need to check with your guild master. I trust Kokoa is still there?"

"Yes, sir. She's awaiting a call from you, actually, although she's a tad busy with preparations for the upcoming S-Class trials. If she doesn't respond within two days, I'll send out a message myself." The short man nods to himself, accepting the response. Makarov asks Mirajane to escort Anna back downstairs, and once the door is shut, Makarov looks to the redhead.

"Erza, do you mind if she stays with you? You're the only one she seems to know personally, and you're more than capable of handling things...if a problem arises." Makarov asked the redhead once he was sure there was no chance of someone eavesdropping. Erza, while turning pink in the cheeks at the praise, nodded dutifully.

"Yes, Master. You can count on me." And that's how Anna Crawford ended up rooming with Erza until Makarov could get into contact with Master Kokoa to confirm Anna's story.

In the days following Anna Crawford's arrival, the inhabitants of Fairy Tail quickly learned that she was..odd. _Very_ odd.

First off, Erza nearly had a heart attack the first morning after Anna's arrival. In accordance with Master Makarov's wishes, Erza had put Anna up in her main apartment for the next few nights. The first night had gone over civil but awkward, filled with light idle chatter, and then they had gone to bed. Erza woke up the next morning, sat up in bed, and was about to get up, only to find a three-foot-long gold and teal dragon sleeping on the shorter redhead's stomach, coiled up on top of her like a snake. She promptly had a heart attack, requipped a sword at random, and pointed it at the creature, wondering if Anna was injured or not. The commotion had roused a very drowsy Anna, completely unconcerned by the dragon that had been sleeping on her.

As it turns out, that same dragon is Draco, the Spirit of the Dragon, one of the Spirits that Anna has a contract with. Once the younger of the two had explained, Erza quickly apologized.

Next, the members of Fairy Tail noted that Anna was pretty much attached to Erza's hip, was always the first to offer to do something for the woman, and orbited around her like her own personal moon. Mira, who had a younger sibling herself, thought it was absolutely adorable. Erza didn't know what to think, but since Anna wasn't causing any trouble yet, she couldn't complain.

Then, when Draco had first summoned himself into the guildhall, Natsu had predictably charged single-mindedly into it, demanding a fight. Sadly, the Dragonslayer was swiftly laid out, leaving a concerned and exasperated Lucy to berate him for trying to start a fight.

From that, Anna had proceeded to launch headlong into an argument with the Spirit, berating the blond man for not being careful and making the mistake of, for one, using his celestial fire against a _mortal_ , but specifically a mortal who would most definitely try to **_eat_ **the celestial fire. Once the argument, and subsequently Anna herself, had calmed down, she had explained that Draco has four physical forms, his humanoid one being his main choice. He can breathe fire, manipulate his own size, and even sometimes mask scents. She also explained that his fire isn't like Earthland fire. His is celestial in nature, and so it's completely new, making it understandably reasonable for Natsu to have had such a reaction in trying to ingest the foreign flames.

Now residing at the bar next to Erza, Anna happily coos and showers a large fluffy dog with endless affection. This is another of her Spirits, Canis Major, who she had named Echorio, Echo for short. He was a Spirit that could shapeshift into any form he so wished, and was currently in the form of a large Saint Bernard, his furry behind parked on a stool next to the youngest redhead.

"Here you go!" Mirajane exclaims perkily, setting down a slice of cake for Erza and a strawberry smoothie for Anna. "So," The platinum-haired barmaid cooed, sliding the tall glass over the counter to the younger redhead. "What type of magic do you use?"

Taking a sip of her beverage, Anna smiles. "I use Celestial magic, Music magic, and Requip. My parents taught me everything I know, and my mother taught me how to use The Knight since I could walk." Mirajane drops a cup in her shock, splashing droplets of water from the sink on her dress.

"T-The Knight?" She stutters, mouth agape. Anna nods, holding out her hand and a short sword quickly requips into her outstretched appendage.

"I would be happy to demonstrate, but perhaps that's better suited for outdoors. I wouldn't want to break anything, after all. Last time I demonstrated my magic indoors, I broke a rather expensive antique vase and Master was..uh..less than pleased." With a practiced snap of her wrist, the sword disappears, and the red-haired girl takes another sip of her drink.

"And are you a normal guild mage? What rank are you?" Erza prods as Mira replaces the empty plate with a fresh one.

"I'm S-Class ranked." The younger informs nonchalantly. And both Mira and Erza stop to stare at her once again.

It takes a few seconds, but finally regaining her bearings, Mirajane manages to ask, "How is that?"

Flinging a stray lock of scarlet hair over her shoulder, Anna goes into explaining. "Well, my parents started training me in magic at a rather young age, and I remember always having fevers a lot. I was told that I had just a tad too much magic for my age and that's what was giving me consistent fevers. Finally, they decided to just get me a limiter, and once a good portion of my excess magic was sealed up, my fevers stopped. When I was five, they picked one magic to start with, and we stayed with it until I mastered it, then we went to the next one, and the cycle repeated itself. They were afraid that if they taught me all three types at the same time, it would overwhelm my magic or something like that."

And no less than ten seconds later, Anna ducks without preamble as Gray sails above her head and past an unalarmed Mira, slamming headfirst into the bar shelf with a grunt. On the other side of the guild hall, in the direction Gray had come from, stands a proud-looking Natsu, holding onto...

Gray's underwear?

"GIMME BACK MY UNDERWEAR, FIRE FREAK!" The Ice Mage yells lividly, stalking out from behind the bar sans boxers. Anna yelps in utter horror, whirling around and burying her face in Erza's back.

" _Make them stop..._ " She all but moans into her sister's hair. At the plea from her sibling, Erza immediately requips into her Purgatory armor and hovers menacingly over the Dragonslayer and Ice mage. Before they can comprehend that they're in trouble, Erza grabs a handful of Gray's and Natsu's bangs before yanking their heads together with astounding force, knocking them both out with ease.

Sighing in exasperation, the requip Mage sits back down, shaking her head. "There. That should keep them out of our hair for a little while." She mutters to herself, eagerly sticking her fork into the fourth slice of cake Mira has provided her since they sat down.

Now that the insanity has died down for the moment, Anna idly sips at her smoothie, deep in thought.

Suddenly she freezes, realizing something. _'Oh, right, I left and only told Master. Whoops.'_ Sweatdropping, she purses her lips. Maybe no one will notice. Maybe Master will tell anyone who _does_ notice that she's out on a job. That'll work, right? It has to. And if _**she**_ finds out...

The redhead pauses to shudder at the mere thought. She doesn't want to even imagine what would happen. Hell on Earthland. Fire and brimstone. She'd have an easier time having afternoon tea with Satan himself than what would await her if _**she**_ finds out.

The doors slam open, but at first no one pays it any attention, least of all Anna, still wrapped up in her own thoughts of her very explicit demise. Until-

"ANNA FUCKING CRAWFORD, I WILL MURDER YOU MYSELF!"

* * *

**Boom! The mysterious figure is Anna Crawford, a young wizard in the True Heart guild! And she's Erza's younger sister! But what's this? Who's the one saying she'll murder Anna?**

**Check out chapter three to find out!**

**-Cosmos**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, all rights are reserved for Hiro Mashima and affiliates.**

**Chapter three: The Night Dragonslayer**

* * *

For a second, everyone is speechless. Standing in the entrance to Fairy Tail is a tall girl with auburn hair and bright green eyes. Green eyes currently zeroed in on Anna and giving her the hairiest eyeball they can produce.

Even the target of the vicious glare is stunned silent, her mouth falling open. "L-Lauren?" She finally spits out, gulping a bit. It seems she knows the girl, but it doesn't really seem like she's all that enthusiastic to see her.

Growling low in her throat, the girl stalks through the guild hall until she is mere feet from the shorter redhead, glare still fierce on her face. "Any particular reason why I returned home to find out you had _disappeared_ and didn't tell anyone?"

In a weak attempt to defend her case, the frightened redhead pipes up. "I did tell Master.."

"SO?!" Lauren explodes, getting up in the girl's face. "No one knew where you were, you dipshit! Not Sunny, not Erin, not even Nadia or Chase, and _certainly_ not me! Chronos above, Anna, I'm gone for a _one-month-_ long job, and you're nowhere to be found when I get back! You were gone, goddamnit!"

"Yeah!" A small voice squeaks angrily from behind the tall auburn-haired girl, and a white, winged cat with bright red stripes flew out to give Anna a withering glare.

"Oh not you too, Ruby!" Anna complains, giving the cat puppy-dog eyes.

"Are you even listening to me?!" Lauren demands shrilly, glaring at Anna with enraged green eyes. "Listen to me when I-" As soon as her mouth opened, Anna covered her hand in some midnight blue blob splattered with reds and purples, and slammed it right into Lauren's mouth.

Everyone waits with bated breath as the girl freezes, slowly chewing on the odd substance. Once it's finally down, the girl licks her lips. The entire guild is silent. And then-

"Whoo! That really hit the spot!" At least four people fall off their chairs or drop their drinks on the floor, utterly shocked by the sudden mood shift in the tall girl. "I haven't had any of that in a month!" Then, her face drops. "Oh but I'm still mad at you." She says, though not as enthusiastically as she had been prior to the treat.

"I figured." Anna replies dryly, taking a sip out of her soda. "Now, are you calm enough to introduce yourself to the people you scared shitless, or do you need another hit?"

The tall girl paused to think. "Nah, I think I'm good." She finally decided on, seeming content.

Once all the insanity has calmed down, two brand new introductions go around. "I'm Lauren Velanie, a True Heart wizard, as well as Anna's best friend, teammate, and executioner." The auburn-haired girl states proudly, with her guild emblem visible on her upper right thigh, displayed in a brilliant gold shine.

The cat spoke up next, jumping up and down. "My name is Ruby!" She grins. "I'm Lauren and Anna's partner." Once her piece is done, she hops onto Anna's lap.

Holding the cat in her lap, Anna pipes back in, smiling brightly. "Lauren is actually one of the founding members of my team, Celestial Dusk. She's _also_ an S-Class wizard, if I may add. It's made up of myself, Lauren, Ruby, and our friends Sunny and Erin."

"And what magic does Lauren use? What was that blue thing you shoved in her mouth?"

"Lauren's actually a Dragonslayer!" Anna informed, grinning. Seeing all of the shocked looks around her, she giggles. "She's the Night Dragonslayer, to be precise. And that blue stuff I shoved in her face was technically space." The redhead demonstrates by bringing her hands up and with the quick wave of her hands in front of her, that same blue substance from before forms in the air. "While I am a Celestial wizard, the majority of the Spirits I'm contracted to are very different from Lucy's. Mine call themselves the Diamond Spirits, and are vastly different than the Zodiacs, in terms of power and abilities. Conjuring a little bit of space like I just did is literally no problem at all because of them."

"Could you explain a bit? How much power do they have?" Mira asked.

"For some, it's incalculable. With the lower level ones, their power is easier to estimate, but it's never a perfect calculation." At their confused looks, she sighs. "See, there are four types, or tiers, of Diamond Spirits. Black is the strongest, with Gray only a few steps behind them, then White, and finally Purple. I have four of the Black, and two of the Gray. I have a Silver Spirit too; that's Echo here!" She says happily, gesturing to the large dog-Spirit sitting next to her.

"How much magic does it take to Summon the Diamond Spirits?" Lucy asks, curious. Anna barely pauses.

"An exorbitant amount. I nearly died the first time I tried Summoning Hydra. I don't recommend picking up a Diamond Key unless you're already accustomed to them, even if your experience is from one of the lower tiers. Besides, trying to switch from using primarily Gold and Silver Keys to using a Diamond Key, even just once, isn't a nice experience. I would know from personal experience, and it's pretty damn painful." The fourteen-year-old advises seriously.

"Why does it take so much magic to Summon them?" Erza inquires, stabbing her fork into a slice of cake absentmindedly. Anna does her best to ignore that. She definitely doesn't envy being that cake.

"Well, see, the idea is that if you're strong enough to open the Gate, you're probably strong enough to pull them back in line if they go berserk, so to say." She explains. "Because of how much power these guys have under their belts, it's usually a bit difficult to reign them in, so this is sort of a failsafe to keep them from losing it too badly. This practice was only implemented about..twenty years ago?" She pauses, because Ruby vacates her lap and Echo, now in the form of a caramel colored Pomeranian, quickly occupies the space. Without missing a beat, the fourteen-year-old picks up right where she left off, absently running a hand over Echo's fur.

"Back then, there was no failsafe to protect anyone if the Spirits got out of hand, and a lot of people suffered the out-of-control rage of the Spirits when they unintentionally flew off the handle. After about a hundred years of this, the King and Queen of the Spirit Realm finally came to the decision to create the rule that the Gate won't open if you don't have enough power to keep them from going ape-shit. Since implementing that rule, things have gotten better. The rages eventually crawled to a stop, and people got to stop fearing what they had come to call 'The Beast Spirits'. It's sort of a shitty deal for the Summoner, though, because of how much magic it takes, and sometimes there's pain involved, just to call the Spirit the first time. It was _excruciating_ trying to Summon Hydra, and I actually had to give up a few times because he had too much power for me to open the Gate. I finally managed to Summon him for real when I was thirteen, and even then it put me out of commission for a few days. I think I had such a hard time with him because I have a limiter."

"A limiter? But I thought those were outlawed years ago!" Max exclaimed in confusion. Hearing this, Erza sits up straighter and abandons her cake.

"Anna? Do you mean to tell me that you are using an object that has been banned by the Magic Council?" The aura of death that emanates from around the redhead is enough to drive most of the crowd away in terror, although Anna and Lauren are firm where they are.

Anna has the decency to look sheepish. She's about to explain, when Lauren jumps to her defense, not liking the tone Erza was using.

"Enough." She growls at the redheaded S-Class wizard, prompting her to look over her shoulder at her. "Anna's parents spent years trying to find other ways to solve her excess of magic, but nothing ever solved the issue for more than a few weeks. In the end, the limiter was the only way. Before they used it, they took their case to the Magic Council, with at least four doctors who supported the claim, and their case was granted as an exception to the law. Anna is perfectly legal in her usage of a limiter."

"Anna, is this true?"

Eyes locked on her toes, Anna nods. "Yes. If they hadn't, I can't imagine what would have happened to me. One of the doctors said that I was lucky to have my excess power sealed away so young, because I could have either died or gone insane had we never sealed it up. Over the years as I've gotten stronger, we've unleashed small pieces of it, but there's still quite a bit locked up tight." Lauren puts her hand on Anna's shoulder comfortingly, and Echo licks her hand, offering his own support any way he can.

"Can we see an outdoor demonstration of your magic?" Levy asks, hoping to raise the spirits of the room.

Her effort pays off when Anna grins widely, also eager to change the subject. "Sure!" She's never been shy when it comes to showing off her magic, and giving Erza a demonstration honestly sounded amazing. "Oh, but everyone should probably stand a good distance away, I don't wanna accidentally hit someone." She advises with a chipper tone.

Outside on the training ground, Erza and Anna are locked in a staring match, waiting for the signal. "Ready...set...GO!" Lauren announces, and Anna is quick to summon a sword to block Erza's speedy advance. With her other hand, a bright red magic circle appears under her hand.

"Impressive, Erzie!" The True Heart wizard compliments. " _Eighth Note Blast._ " She whispers, and Erza is struck in the back by a flying, black object. She looks up around her, and surrounding her on all sides are upwards of forty musical notes, all pointed down at her. Anna's hand closes in a fist, and the notes launch at their target. While Erza is busy dealing with the musical notes, Anna quickly opens up her magical cache and pulls forth six swords. While she grabs two, the other four stay hovering in the air, awaiting her command.

 _"Telekinesis?"_ One asks. Hearing this, Anna jumps back enough to speak at a reasonable level.

"Nope. Well, I mean, I _could_ have Telekinesis, since Mom did, but that isn't my point. These swords are from the Spirit Realm, which means they obey me regardless of if I possessed Telekinesis or not." As soon as she says this, Erza breaks through the notes and comes flying at Anna. Unfettered, the younger of the two deflects the advance, throwing Erza over her shoulder and ducking into a roll to get away, her swords dancing around her. The two rush at each other and the clang of sword against sword grates against everyone's ears, although they can't tear their eyes away.

The crowd notices that when Anna moves, glowing circles are left where her feet touch the ground, glowing bright orange. While she's doing this, she's effortlessly deflecting blows from Erza's swords and dishing out equal attacks, carefully directing her Celestial swords to face Erza's back. Before the swords can go in for the kill, Erza whips around and breaks the weapons, sending them back from whence they came.

However, that small distraction proved to be an opportunity for Anna. One final circle is set on the ground before the entire set begins glowing brightly, and Lucy notices that the circles form the constellation of Vulpecula, the Fox. "Vulpus!" Anna cries out and five spinning funnels of orange flames burst from the circles, aimed directly at Erza.

Amazingly, Erza is able to dodge most of them, but she does get hit a few times. And although the flames are clearly taking a toll on her, she appears to be making quick work of it, requipping into her Flame Empress armor to protect herself. Anna notices this and attempts to cast another spell, but is prevented from doing so as the elder redhead launches at her, knocking her to the ground. Instantly, a sword is at Anna's throat.

An uncomfortable silence reigns for several seconds, no one wishing to speak first. "Erza won." Someone from the crowd finally says, unsurprised. But Lauren frowns.

"Not quite." The crowd looks at her, and sees her bright green eyes narrowed at the two redheads' necks. They take a closer look. Erza's sword is at Anna's neck, an obvious win. But then they notice that Anna is smirking. And not only does she still have a blade, it's pointed directly at the older redhead's neck, ready to sink into Erza's yielding throat at a moment's notice.

 _"A draw."_ Ruby whispers, watching as the redheads stare at each other. They remain locked in their stalemate for a few agonizing seconds, and half the crowd has to wonder if Erza is gonna kill this poor fourteen-year-old or not. Finally though, she stands up, her sword returning to her inventory and she gives the younger a hand up.

"Congratulations," The red-haired Fairy Tail wizard states genuinely and Anna smiles.

"Thanks, Erza. Right back at you, a lot of people don't last long against me back at True Heart. How are you feeling though? Some of those notes hit you I think, and I'm pretty sure Vulpecula's fire might have caught your leg." Anna asked the elder, accepting a bottle of water from Mirajane as the ivory-haired woman approached. Lauren, grinning like a madwoman, runs up and claps her best friend on the back.

"Atta girl! That's my Annie, matching Titania Erza blow-for-blow in a one-on-one match!" The tall auburn-haired girl cheered. Rolling her eyes, the redhead gently shoves her friend off of her.

"Would you stop? It didn't even last long enough for me to call out Hydra. I thought that would have been really interesting..." Anna mumbled to herself, looking a tad disappointed. Utterly baffled, the crowd stares at the younger redhead, eyes bugged out. Are they hearing right? Is she insinuating she could have lasted _longer_ against Erza? Beside her, Lauren nodded, biting her lip contemplatively.

"Yeah, I guess it would have been cool. It would have been even more amazing if Vulpy Summoned Hydra. Then he could have come out at full power. I haven't seen that in like a year." The auburn-haired Dragonslayer complained.

"You know this is Vulpy's day off, Lauren. Asking her to come out on her day off is extremely rude, and is normally against contract regulation. If she were any other Spirit, she could legally nullify our contract." Anna reminded her friend sternly, who grimaced and looked away.

"Why does your magic have to be so damn confusing?"

"It's a price to pay for specializing with the stars, Lauren." The redhead responded sagely, actually appearing serious. To the members of Fairy Tail, it became blatantly obvious that Anna took her Celestial Magic _very_ seriously. "A contract with a Celestial Spirit is built on trust and the mutual agreement to not overstep boundaries. It outlines when and for how long a Spirit can be called, and as the Summoner we are obligated to respect those terms and adhere to them. Otherwise, there's no trust in the relationship and everything fails. I know there are other, really _really_ shitty Celestial Mages in this world, but I at least intend to be one that can be counted on. You know that." Properly admonished, Lauren nods her head in apology, wanting to kick herself for not remembering that fact.

In the crowd, Lucy smiles appreciatively at the fourteen-year-old Celestial Mage, proud that at least one of her kind feels the same way that she does. There truly are some scum for Celestial Mages out in Earthland, and they really give Celestial Magic a bad name.

At this point, Makarov politely cuts in, realizing that while Anna has a place to stay temporarily, Lauren may not. "All that aside, Miss Velanie, do you have a place to stay?" At Makarov's question, Lauren sweatdrops, which answers his question soundly. "No? Alright then. Uhm, is anyone willing to put Miss Velanie up for a short while?" He glanced around at the full guild hall, taking in the endless faces. "Mira can't, because she's always working...Erza? No, Erza's already got her hands full with Anna," The Fairy Tail Master pondered, ignoring the mildly indignant 'hey!' Anna let out in the background.

"I think I could probably spare some space." Lucy shyly announced from her spot squished in between Natsu and Gray. "My apartment's kinda small but I have some room, even if Natsu breaks in constantly." The blonde rationalized, sending the pink-haired Dragonslayer a mild glare at the end of her sentence, which was ignored.

"Thank you, Lucy dear. Well, Miss Velanie, is that acceptable?"

"Sure!" The auburn-haired Dragonslayer grinned widely. Even from their brief interactions, the members of Fairy Tail can see that Lauren is a very easy-going individual and that most things don't phase her.

Anna, who had snickered at her friend's forever mercurial moods, suddenly was reminded of something important at the mention of lodgings. "By the way, Laur, are you gonna get in trouble for being out of Oshibana after curfew? You signed in when you came back, didn't you?"

In the middle of grabbing her drink from Mira, the Dragonslayer freezes. There's a long beat of silence, in which nothing is said, before Anna sighs.

"You mean to tell me that you showed up here to bitch at me for not telling anyone I left, and yet you do the exact same thing?!" The redhead asks incredulously. "You're hopeless. I hope Master rips you a new one." She states unrepentantly.

Sweatdropping, Lauren laughs and scratches the back of her head. "Well Annie, you know, I got so upset when I came back and heard you left without telling anyone that I just kinda blanked I guess. I kinda scent-tracked you all the way from Oshibana, you know. I would have had a harder time finding you if you'd closed the window on the train." She informed her unamused friend.

"At least _I_ won't have Master breathing down my neck for disappearing," Anna countered smugly. "Unlike **you** , I just have to deal with everyone else. Easy-peasy." At this, Lauren growled and then Fairy Tail watched as the two launched into an argument that soon turned into a fist-fight, which unfortunately soon dragged others into it.

Seeing the destruction, Natsu had grown incredibly brazen and landed a sucker punch on Gray from above Lucy's head, prompting the black-haired Ice Mage to gently move the blonde out of the way before charging fist-first at the pink-haired Dragonslayer. From that, Elfman had been pulled into the mess, screaming that 'BRAWLING IS MANLY' before he was punched out by Gajeel.

The fighting goes on for what feels like hours, until Gray, having been launched by Natsu, flies into Erza and accidentally smashes her cake. In response to this, Erza flies into an unstoppable rage and immediately puts a stop to everyone's nonsense-

By jumping into the madness and punching out every single person she comes across, regardless of their involvement. With her participation, the fight is put to an end, and everyone finds a chair to calm down and nurse their battle wounds, away from the watchful eyes of the demonic Titania.

...

Later that night, everyone in Fairy Hills is asleep, aside from Anna. She's sitting at Erza's immaculately neat desk, penning out a letter. The room is silent, save for the sound of her pen against the paper as the time ticks by.

With a satisfied sigh, Anna seals the letter and hands it to the True Heart delivery bird, sending the bluebird on its way and watching it soar out of Erza's bedroom window.

Anna then prepares for bed, snuggling into her sleeping bag, cracking a small grin as Draco once again curls up in the crook of her neck. As her eyes slide closed, they are locked on the stars she can see out the window, twinkling in the inky black expanse above.

_Dear Master Kokoa,_

_I'm writing to you because I've successfully arrived in Magnolia and found my sister. Master Makarov of Fairy Tail wishes to speak with you so that you may vouch for me - and also Lauren, who left to hunt me down after learning I'd left without telling anyone. In the meantime, I'm being housed with Erza, mostly so she can keep an eye on me and make sure I am who I say I am, but also so that we may bond. In truth, I can't tell you just how relieved and overjoyed I am to not only have found my sister, but that she's also alive. These past eleven years have been absolute hell on me, as I'm sure you are already aware, so finding her is cathartic to say the least. Master, she's positively_ amazing _. She's so brave and also incredibly strong. Everyone looks up to her so much; it's honestly adorable. While a lot of them are afraid of her temper, which is much like mine, they also respect her and are devoted to her fiercely._

 _She's everything I could ask for in a sister and more. I can't wait for you to meet her, you'll love her. Until then,_ _I await your arrival patiently._

_Love,_

_Anna_

* * *

**So this was an interesting chapter. We got to meet two of Anna's friends and teammates, got a nice battle between Anna and Erza, some more insight to the personalities of Lauren and Anna, and a nice letter to the mysterious Master of True Heart.**

**Don't worry, things won't be too stable for long. I have amazing plans. I'm gonna try to keep this story mostly to the canon series, there may be a deviation or two. Just warning you.**

**-Cosmos**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, all rights are reserved for Hiro Mashima and affiliates.**

**Chapter four: It's A Family Matter**

* * *

"So, Anna, would you mind telling me a bit more information about o-our parents?" Erza asked politely. The two of them had decided to take a personal day of sorts, and were seated at a cafe in downtown Magnolia, taking themselves away from the lack of privacy in Fairy Tail.

If Anna noticed the slight stutter in Erza's voice, she didn't comment on it. Instead, the younger redhead nods. "Of course. You have as much right to know about them that I do." She responds, reaching into her pocket. From her shorts pocket she reveals a clear lacrima about the size of her fist. She pours a small amount of magic into it to wake it up, and fiddles with whatever is stored inside it before a holographic image appears in the air. Anna then turns the lacrima around, presenting it and the image to Erza.

"That's our mom and dad, Melissa and Erik Crawford, as I explained the day of my arrival." Erza gingerly picks up the lacrima, staring at the faces of the people in the photo, their brilliant smiles frozen in place.

"I remember you stating that..Melissa used Requip like me? And Erik used Celestial Magic?" Erza asked, gaining a nod from Anna as she yanked a croissant apart. "Is there anything else that they did? Did they know any other types of magic?"

Anna paused briefly to think, her brutalization of the pastry halting momentarily. "Mom..was an unaffiliated scholar, of sorts. She studied all sorts of magic types, even from the most mundane of shit to the top-tier, unbelievably complicated types known to Earthland. As far as I remember, she was also very respected in her field for her contributions to the development of magic. I think even the Council thanked her, if only briefly. And while she knew lots of scholars from all over Fiore and even some from other countries, she kind of kept to herself. I just remember that she was always very serious about learning, especially about learning magic. She made sure I knew just what magic was, in every sense of the word, and that I understood the true weight of what I was learning before I used it. In that, I guess she made me super sensitive to all sorts of magical phenomena."

As she spoke, Anna took the time to admire a hanging flower pot next to her. "It's odd, but because of how in-depth my magic lessons were and just how long we focused on meditation and feeling the world around us, I've never had any problems connecting to the Ethernano in the atmosphere. Meditation and expanding my magical power is a walk in the park, even though I know it's much harder for a lot of people. When she taught me how to use Requip, we started small, with ordinary objects. We would spend hours just calling them and putting them back, over and over, until I built up my speed and confidence with it. She also taught me about the world, and battle situations. She taught me that there's always another option, even when there seems to be absolutely nothing you can do. Even when the odds seem to be utterly stacked against you, if there's even a .1 percent chance that you can still turn the tables, anything is possible."

"And our father?" Erza prompted calmly as the waitress set another plate of cake down on the table. Seeing this, Anna sweatdropped, hoping she wouldn't go bankrupt from this outing. From this day on, Erza buys when they get food. No exceptions.

Dragging herself out of her monetary mourning, Anna responds. "Dad taught me Celestial Magic and Music Magic. Through him, I learned to always honor my word and never break a promise. After all, what's a Celestial Wizard if her word isn't honest at all times? He taught me to be resourceful and imaginative, to use the circumstances to my advantage. He taught me to see the situation from all angles and work around roadblocks, to use any loophole I could find. If an enemy makes you swear your word, as a Celestial Mage you have to follow it, but if they fail to see a loophole, use it and make your move. From Music Magic, I learned to raise the playing field to my advantage, to throw any obstacle I could in my opponents way and leave them dealing with minor problems while I snuck up from behind and took them out. It taught me to be reactive and always have a backup plan, and then a backup backup plan."

"What about the strange glowing markers you placed on the ground during our spar? That's Celestial, correct? Did you learn that from our father as well?"

Anna shook her head. "No, I learned Celestial Caster Magic on my own...well, with the help of a few books I 'borrowed' from the Oshibana Municipal Library." The redhead then smirked, apparently finding her statement amusing. "Ya know, Oshibana Library prides itself on their impeccable record-keeping and whatnot, and yet a seven-year-old managed to sneak into the Restricted section and swipe literal armfuls of books and didn't get caught." Rolling her eyes, the fourteen-year-old muttered some choice words about the incompetency of staff and their inability to recognize the loss of fourteen books from the Restricted section.

Erza stops, dumbfounded, her fork halfway to her mouth, unable to believe what she's hearing. She finally snaps out of it and fixes a piercing look onto her sister. " _Anna!_ " The elder redhead scolded, scandalized. She glances around before lowering her voice, although her phenomenal glare hasn't lessened in the slightest. "Stealing is a serious crime. You could get into serious trouble."

At this, Anna snorts and takes a sip of her strawberry smoothie. " _I know that_ , Erza. But hear me out on this; magic isn't supposed to be kept hidden from the public. Magic is a part of everyday life in this day and age, don't you think we should have access to as much of it as we can get? Obviously aside from the Dart Arts, but you get what I mean. For the people who have the magic types kept secret, this is a huge detriment! I never would have learned Celestial Caster Magic without those books. Lauren would never have learned some of the advanced attacks and spells she knows without the Dragonslaying books. My friends who use Arc of Time wouldn't have known anything about their type without those books. I agree that stealing is wrong, but so is depriving people of their history."

Erza sits silently, unable to raise a further argument. Anna's defense was impeccable, and she had a very good point, although Erza still didn't like the way she'd gone about it. "Regardless of the right and wrong of locking away knowledge on magic, theft is a serious offense. You will do well to bear this in mind the next time." She advises the younger girl through a curtain of crimson bangs.

"Yeah, yeah, got it Erzie." Anna flippantly waves off the elder's warnings. "Relax, I don't do that shit anymore. Now I just buy my books from alley shops or get them from Vulpecula in the Spirit Realm. It's much less risky getting them from Vulpy."

"How long has Vulpecula been your Spirit?" Erza asked, deciding to just change the subject and save herself a headache. In response, Anna beams like the very sun.

"Since I was a baby. Vulpecula was actually Dad's Celestial Spirit until he gave me her Key when I was seven." The younger redhead answered, smiling fondly, and Erza can tell Anna isn't fully with her anymore. No, she's wrapped up in a precious memory from a time long gone by, if the soft, glazed look in her eyes is anything to go by. "You should have seen her that day, she was so happy she couldn't stop hugging me. I think that smile was stuck to her face for a good week." She joked.

"Dad was glad to transfer Vulpy's Key to me, although I think we all know Vulpy wouldn't have accepted no for an answer. She was determined to become my Spirit, because she claimed 'one of these days, Annie's gonna need my super crazy ass magic, and you might not be around'. Or at least, that's what she said to Dad anyway." Just as she says this, her demeanor changes, her smile falling from her face. "In a way, she was right." She mumbles, and Erza doesn't have to ask what's on her mind.

She's seen that same expression in her mirror for years. Those same wide eyes, pained and horrified and panicked at the same time, the trembling hands, and the unbearable feeling of nausea rolling through her stomach without rest. Her eyes watched as Anna's hand, trembling just the tiniest bit, gently held the locket pendant that hung from her neck. It was a beautiful necklace, although the origin of the artistry wasn't familiar to her, and the way the younger redhead held the necklace led Erza to believe the item was linked to their parents.

"Tell me about this limiter of yours." She instructs, eager to get away from the uncomfortable silence. Anna, grateful for the change, smiles.

"Sure. Like Lauren explained a while ago, I was born with way too much magic power for someone my age, and it constantly affected my health, giving me fierce fevers that would last for days. Mom and Dad tried _everything_ to help me, every mundane cure they could think of. Mom poured over every book on magic she had, but still nothing. Finally, it seemed like the only permanent fix would be to get a limiter. So when I was about three, they went to the Magic Council and requested an exception be made in my case. Once the doctors they'd brought chipped their findings in, and also had my magic capacity measured by the Council, they decided to grant the request, and I was given a limiter. It was placed in my parents' care, and slowly as I grew and got better at magic, they slowly released portions of it. I have quite a bit more portions to be released as of right now, but there's clearly more I can do. A few weeks ago, Hydra, one of my Spirits, told me that my current power level is about the equivalent of Leo's." Anna revealed, much to Erza's shock.

Erza is very familiar with Leo the Lion, or more specifically Loke, as he's known in Fairy Tail. A Celestial Spirit who paraded himself as a human for three years due to an unjust punishment, rescued by none other than her teammate Lucy, and restored to his full status as the leader of the Zodiac. From Lucy, Erza had learned quite a bit about Leo, as well as his powers and strength. While he'd been pretending to be human, he'd been decent as a fighter, although he'd been taken out by her with a single punch, but as a Celestial Spirit...

His power was something to behold. She, admittedly, hadn't seen much of it since he was restored, but what she had seen was enough to impress her far beyond expectation. She'd seen him take the kind of damage that would incapacitate a human for at least a month and shake it off like absolutely nothing. His resilience was nothing to sneeze at, clearly.

To think Anna's power was on par with that currently was almost mind-boggling. And then there was that little caveat that she hasn't even reached her full potential yet, Erza was reminded of as she watched as Anna called the waitress over.

Erza was still wrapped up in her thoughts as Anna, with a thorough grimace, paid the sky-high bill, once again making a mental note to force Erza to buy whenever it came to food. "You ready to go?" The older redhead is brought out of her musings by Anna's inquisitive voice, and she turns her head to see the young redhead already standing, her purse slung over her shoulder.

"Oh, yes. Of course." Erza replies and also rises, following the girl out of the restaurant. "If you don't mind my asking, how long have you been a True Heart wizard? When did you reach S-Class?"

"I joined the guild when I was six, and I reached S-Class when I was about twelve." Anna replied, squinting a bit because of the sun. She grabs her purse off her shoulder and digs through it for a pair of sunglasses, slipping them on her face and returning her bag to its perch.

If Erza was surprised, she didn't show it, merely nodding as though it were perfectly normal for a twelve-year-old to be able to become S-Class. "That's quite an impressive achievement, Anna. You must have worked very hard for it." Erza commented lightly, watching as the younger girl stretches her arms high above her head with a smile.

"Indeed I did. While Mom and Dad had been training me since I was old enough to walk, I found a much better motivator around the time that we joined True Heart." She pauses for a brief second, turning her head to look at Erza, still smiling, although this one is less happy than her earlier ones, more melancholy and subdued. "It was you, Erza. For years, you were the main driving force that spurred me to become as strong as I could be. Because in my head, if I got stronger, then I'd be able to find you, and no one else could ever take you away from me again. And even though this gave me something to focus on, it also ended up being somewhat of a foil to me. Because I was so determined to become stronger, I practically began living in the True Heart training room. Almost all of my time was spent there. I ate there. I showered in the locker room. And more often than not, I'd fall asleep against some random piece of equipment. I can't tell you how many times I gave Mom and Dad heart attacks during this time when they'd check in on me at night and not find me in my bedroom."

Erza stays silent as Anna looks up, breathing deeply. "I didn't mean to worry them, or anyone else in the guild. Really. I just...I wanted to get as strong as I could, as quickly as I could. At the time, I couldn't recognize that my behavior, my obsession with strength, was unhealthy. I couldn't see past the goal in my head, that if I continued, I'd do something probably irreparable to myself. It took some time, along with one hell of an intervention held by both Mom and Dad and also Master Kokoa, but they finally got me to stop with the obsessiveness of it when I was around seven. I still train, but now it's not fueled by such an obsessive, pipe-dream goal anymore. I'm really grateful that they got me to stop before I hurt myself, even if I had a hard time accepting it back then."

"Well," Erza says, wrapping her arms around the girl and tugging her in for a hug, oblivious to Anna's wince as her head smacks into Erza's breastplate. "I'm glad that you are happy and healthy now, Anna. But I hope you bear in mind that if you return to these unhealthy habits, I will be the one to make you stop. Is that clear?"

Sighing at the steely note that fills Erza's voice completely, Anna nods. "Yes, ma'am. Though it's not like I intend to ever go back to that anyway." And Anna means this statement with every fiber of her being.

Now, reflecting back on her actions during that time, the only things she can feel is shame and embarrassment. Even just thinking about how worried she'd made her parents makes her want to crawl in a hole and never come out. True, she was still dealing with an insurmountable amount of grief, but instead of talking about it and getting help, she'd continued to encourage her own destructive behavior, chasing a young girl's wish to see her big sister again. In the end, all she'd been is selfish and harmful, to both others and herself.

It's a time that Anna is grateful to have moved past and put behind her.

"How about we head back to Fairy Tail and hop in the pool for a while?" Anna asks Erza, spinning around to walk backwards, facing Erza. The older redhead nods, a gentle smile on her face.

"I like the sound of that."

...

Unfortunately, some of the rowdier members of Fairy Tail had something different in mind, they soon found out as they made their way to the pool. As soon as they'd stepped foot in the guild, Anna's good mood had all but plummeted into the floorboards. Tables and chairs were smashed to absolute pieces, food littered the floor, and at least seven dust clouds full of brawling guild members filled the guild hall.

Although at least she wasn't alone, because Erza's mood had _also_ taken a nose-dive upon entering the building. It took no less than five seconds, and a poorly-timed chair to the face, before the redhead promptly went white-hot with rage and jumped head-first into the first cloud she could see. In no time at all, people started flying everywhere, screaming as they attempted to get away from the enraged Titania's wrath to no avail.

It only took about five or ten minutes for Erza to wrangle everyone under control, but by then she was already seething, steam practically pouring out of her ears. Anna calmly stood by, watching as the members cowered in corners, nursing the wounds they'd acquired both in battle and by Erza. "Want me to check the pool?" Anna asked her sister casually.

"If it isn't too much trouble." Erza responds back, never once taking her glaring eyes off of the members. Nodding once to herself, the fourteen-year-old makes her way to the pool, finding even more chaos.

This time, it's Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, and Elfman all squabbling like a bunch of children, with Lucy, Levy, Juvia, and Mira hiding. Juvia's watching Gray with hearts in her eyes, having little to no concern for her own safety, Mira already has a gaping headwound, presumably from someone throwing her brother into her, and Lucy and Levy are the only ones not injured, although they _do_ look fiercely annoyed.

"Alright, you four!" Anna calls with deceptive cheer and a sugary sweet smile on her face that could rival Mirajane's. "Erza and I want to take a dip, so it's time for you to call off your little brawl!" It's no surprise that not a single one of them react, ignoring her completely and continuing the fight. In response, she picks up an empty cup and chucks it at the first head she can see, ending up being Gray's.

Gray, suddenly aware of someone else's presence by way of cup-to-head, whips his head around to confront the unlucky bastard, and comes face-to-face with Anna. He's first aware of the murderous aura rolling off of her in waves, going blue in the face and ending up getting an unexpected suckerpunch to the face by Natsu.

"Now, I asked nicely for you boys to stop fighting so Erza and I can enjoy the rest of our day, but you didn't listen. Will you listen now?" She asks, standing over him with no less than seven swords circling around him, glinting silver as their sharp edges point directly at his throat. Gulping, he nods quickly, just to avoid getting a sword in the neck. Juvia is just as quick to leave, eager to follow her love.

In an instant, she is all smiles, and the swords disappear. "Good! Now be a good boy and run along." She instructs him and he makes haste in getting out of there. And as soon as Gray's out of the picture, she requips into her special armor that Hydra helped her make. She then claps an armored hand down on Elfman's large shoulder, clamping down hard enough to draw his attention. Once he gets a good look at her positively homicidal expression, he tries to backpedal, hoping to get away from her, but the surprisingly strong grip on his shoulder keeps him right where he is.

"You're going to go inside and help Mirajane fix the guildhall. Am I clear?" She asks in a deceptively sweet, clipped tone. He nods rapidly, his eyes wide as he stares down at her. "Great! I'm glad we understand each other! Now off you go." She says, and he quickly gets the picture, booking it inside. From the corner, Anna can see Levy and Lucy's almost horrified looks, followed by Mira's appreciative smile that is almost twice as evil as her own.

The ivory-haired barmaid follows her brother inside, leaving the bluenette and blonde behind the tree. As soon as Mira leaves, Anna also requips a lightning conducting spear into her hands, smiling murderously as electricity crackles in the air. Sensing the electricity, and now also Anna's aura, both Gajeel and Natsu pause their brawl, turning to find something of nightmares.

Despite the absolutely sunny-looking smile on her lips, the absolute death glare in her eyes is enough to cause a heart attack. "I'd really hate to have to electrocute the two of you today, so I recommend stopping your little fight. Right. Now."

Remarkably, it's Natsu who is the first to get the picture, and he turns tail and hides behind Lucy almost too quickly for Anna to see. Gajeel is the only one left now, glaring down at her with dark red eyes. To her credit, Anna isn't even phased.

"You got some big brass ones, girlie." He says roughly, crossing his arms over his chest. Now smirking, Anna grips her spear tighter.

"Why thank you, Metal-Mouth. Now get lost before you end up getting hurt."

Not liking her tone, Gajeel reared his fist back, only to be halted in place as a quick charge of lightning zapped him, just before Anna's fist launched into his face quicker than he could even comprehend, effortlessly knocking him out cold. As he drops to the ground, Anna relaxes, letting her armor and weapon return to storage, and then turns a much more normal sunny smile on Lucy and Levy.

"Sorry 'bout that, but he wasn't listening." She apologizes, although she doesn't really sound sorry at all. Stunned silent, the two ladies nod before collecting their belongings and also booking it inside. Natsu, still hiding behind Lucy, also makes a quick exit.

Despite it taking a little under an hour, every single fight is curb-stomped into submission, leaving the guild members all hiding in various corners and licking their wounds, while Erza and Anna spend the rest of the day relaxing by the poolside. In fact, they have the pool to themselves the entire time, everyone else far too afraid of invoking their collective wraths to even try going near them.

...

Miles away, in a dark office lit solely by a single lamp, a woman is reviewing papers when the door opens. "Master? This letter just came for you." A young voice says, and the woman raises her head from the stack of papers to see a boy, no older than ten, standing in front of her desk with a letter in hand.

"Thank you, Xyler." She replies, taking the envelope from the boy and excusing him. Setting aside her stack, she quickly opens the letter and begins reading. For every line she reads, a smile steadily grows on her face, until she's giggling under her breath by the end. Lightly setting the letter down, she leans back in her chair and links her fingers together.

"It seems my presence is required at Fairy Tail.." The woman murmurs to herself in amusement. "Well, I'd better not keep them waiting any longer."

* * *

**And that's chapter four! I hope you enjoyed it! Swing by next time to see what happens!**

**-Cosmos**


	5. Chapter 5

**Welcome back! I hope you are ready, because we're jumping right in!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, all rights are reserved for Hiro Mashima. Everything in this story other than True Heart and the characters who are members of it (plus any new characters I throw in for later chapters kukuku) belong to Hiro Mashima. Go ahead, try to sue me. You'll get all of 10 cents out of me.**

**Chapter five:** **Master Play**

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Bright and early Thursday morning, a figure makes their way down the streets of Magnolia, uncaring of the whispers that follow them. The figure is a woman, with long dark gray-ish purple hair and magenta pink eyes that sparkle in the light.

Despite her sunny demeanor, and the smiles she offers the people she passes by, it's clear to everyone that this woman is someone who possesses immense strength.

The Ten Wizard Saint medallion pinned to the chest of her shirt only solidifies it. She walks with a leisurely but purposeful gait, heading to Fairy Tail. The people of Magnolia are diligent to let her pass, being careful to not cross over into her path.

It doesn't take her long to reach the massive guild, staring up at the building for the barest second before striding through the gate and up to the large doors. As soon as the doors open, she's greeted with a sight not unlike what goes on in _her_ guild. There's smiling faces all around, some people milling about the request board, a couple of fist-fights...it all reminds her of her home.

And by the bar sits two crimson-haired beauties, speaking with matching smiles on their faces, not even flinching as a boy with black hair, sans clothing except for a pair of boxers, goes crashing into the bar. He pulls himself up, a snarl on his lips, and launches back off into the fight he'd been apparently ejected from with furious abandon, Ice Magic spilling from his hands.

Chuckling lowly under her breath at the liveliness, the Wizard Saint makes her way to the bar, finding herself right behind the shorter of the two redheads. Before the redheads, or the silver-haired barmaid, can react, the woman wraps her arms around the girl in front of her. "Anna, I thought you'd sense me before I got to you!" The woman chided, though a smile still played on her lips.

Anna shakes her head, turning around to offer the dark-haired woman a hug. "I knew you were there, Master. I just decided not to react." She quipped back, letting go of the woman and crossing her right leg over the other. "'Sides, it's hard _not_ to notice you; your aura is enough to choke on, and you aren't even using any magic yet." She joked, tilting her head to the side, grinning as the woman lets out a short chuckle.

Erza and Mira watched silently as the two interacted, letting the two have their moment, before deciding to speak up. "You would be True Heart's Master, Kokoa Cantrell, right?" Mirajane asks sunnily, taking Erza's empty cake plate and replacing it with a full one.

The woman nods, taking a seat on Anna's other side. "That I am. And you're Mirajane Strauss, Fairy Tail's poster-girl." She acknowledged, accepting the glass of water Mira set out for her. "Now, I understand that Makarov wants to speak with me, yes?"

"That he does. He's in his office right now. If you'd follow me, please." Mira requested, stepping out from behind the bar. Kokoa nods and rises from her seat, brushing off her shirt.

"Anna, Erza, will you two please come along as well?" Anna sets to her feet immediately, abandoning her drink at the bar and following her Master up the steps, Erza a few paces behind her. Mirajane knocks on Makarov's office door, and hearing a faint response from inside, announces their presence.

"Master, True Heart's Master is here to see you." There's a small hum of acknowledgement, and then the door opens to reveal Fairy Tail's guild Master in all his glory, staring up at the ladies with a smile.

"Ah, Kokoa, it's delightful to see you again." He greets her, allowing them all to come inside. Once the door is shut and everyone is seated, the discussion begins. "So, Kokoa, it seems as though you've had a lost kitten or two," He says conversationally, sending a pointed, yet humored, look to Anna.

"To be fair, _I_ told Master where I was going. Lauren didn't." The redhead defended her case, crossing her arms, a sassy grin playing on her lips. Kokoa rolls her eyes, indulging the girl.

"Yes, Anna is right. She did inform me of her plans before she left, giving me a more or less full rundown of what was going on, where she was going, why this was happening, and all that. I approved of her trip, even if no one else in the guild knew. Although I suppose she was so eager to get here that informing Lauren slipped her mind." Then, Kokoa's attitude shifts, and she now looks stern and annoyed.

"However, I wasn't counting on Lauren taking off as soon as she learned Anna had 'disappeared', although I definitely should have. Considering their history, and Lauren being a Dragonslayer, I most definitely should have sent out a message of my own to Lauren and alerted her. That is no one's fault but my own, and I take full responsibility for it."

Makarov, no doubt used to children running rampant without a care in the world, waves off the apology. "It's fine, we were just a little shocked when she first arrived."

 _'Me especially,'_ Anna can't help but think to herself sardonically, remembering just how shell-shocked she'd been at Lauren's first dramatic entrance. Kokoa clearing her throat drags the redhead out of her thoughts, and she tunes back into the conversation.

"In any case," The True Heart Master redirects, crossing her legs. "Would you ladies please give Makarov and I the room? I'd like to speak with him about a few things privately."

Without preamble, Anna nods and stands, grabbing Erza by the hand and all but dragging the Requip Mage out of the room with a strength that frankly surprised her. Mirajane, confused but nodded along by Makarov, follows the two out of the room, shutting the door behind her and leaving the Guild Masters by themselves.

"I'm guessing what you want to say isn't for their ears?" Makarov asks lightly in the otherwise silent room. Kokoa nods.

"You'd be guessing correctly. Only a fraction of why I came here today was to vouch for Anna and Lauren, but the other part was to propose an idea to you. I'd like to form an alliance between Fairy Tail and True Heart."

Leaning back a bit, Makarov hums in his throat, his eyes closed in contemplation. "It's an interesting idea, Kokoa, but is there any merit to going through with this idea?" He asks.

Kokoa nods. "There is. Not only would an alliance with True Heart open up a lot of job opportunities for Fairy Tail, True Heart has a wide array of Magic users with varying types. Actually, most of the people in True Heart are encouraged to learn at least two types of Magic, as I'm sure you noticed with Anna, and many are masters of their specific types. The reason it's encouraged to learn more than one is so that in case an opponent or enemy nullifies your Magic or overpowers it, you always have a second option, a trick up the sleeve, if you will, that you can lean on when you need it. I have a feeling that this would or will become something desirable for your guild in the future, given how many tough jobs that come your way. Not only that, but True Heart has quite a few S-Class Mages, and even a few SS-Class."

Adjusting her position, Kokoa grimaces at Makarov a bit. "I don't intend to be mean, but you're a bit stretched thin as far as S-Class wizards go. That Mystogan of yours is always off on exceedingly long missions, as is Gildarts, and Erza can only do so much." The woman said, and neither one felt the need to address why Laxus wasn't brought up. Nothing needed to be said on him.

"I suppose it would help to have more S-Class around," Makarov allows, stroking his mustache thoughtfully. "Ah, what the heck? What's the worst that can go wrong?" He asks rhetorically. With as much trouble as Fairy Tail causes, property damage and all that, the only place they can go is up. Having a relatively unproblematic guild like True Heart linked to them may help boost the public's view of them as well.

Jumping off his desk to rummage through one of the bottom drawers, Makarov yanks out a document, and with a mighty leap, hops back onto the desk. "I've got the form here, let's fill it out and send it to the Council before they go on weekend break." The old Guild Master grins, grabbing two quill pens and dipping them in ink.

Letting a grin of her own show, Kokoa accepts the pen from her colleague, following along with him as he fills out the form.

...

"What d'you think they're talkin' about up there?" Lauren asks roughly as she takes a seat beside Anna. In response, the redhead shrugs lightly, twirling a musical note between her hands.

"Hell if I knew. But I'm sure Master's gonna rip your brains out through your nose for dipping without telling anyone." She retorted, grinning as Lauren fell off of her seat in shock, her eyebrows twitching in amusement as the Dragonslayer growled, pulling herself back up.

"If I recall, Anna," The auburn-haired Slayer responded with a snarl in her voice, " _you_ were the one who pulled the disappearing act. I just followed you."

"And if _I_ recall, at least I recorded my departure in the check-in book and told Master where I was going. You did not." She shot back, grinning triumphantly at the steam that pours out of her friend's ears.

"Alright that's it, you little bi-" Lauren began, shooting out of her seat to teach the little pest a lesson, when the door to Makarov's office opened and the Guild Masters came out. In an instant, Kokoa's ice-cold magenta eyes zeroed in on Lauren, freezing the poor Dragonslayer in place.

From behind the bar, Anna smirked as all of her friend's bravado disintegrated under the stern gaze of their Master. She carefully moves out from behind the bar, plopping down on a stool next to a blissfully unaware Erza, and would you look at that? Anna now has the absolute perfect spot to watch Kokoa tear Lauren a new one.

Kokoa makes her way back down to the ground floor calmly, the utter picture of serenity, although her eyes are frozen like the tundra. Next to Erza, Anna suppresses a shiver, glad Master's ire isn't directed at _her_.

"Lauren? May I speak with you outside?" The Guild Master asks with deceptive politeness.

"Uhhhh..." Lauren trailed off, stupefied. "...No?" She replies back uncertainly, hoping to every god out there that she doesn't die today. And in the midst of her mental strife, she doesn't notice Anna's footsteps behind her until she feels the firm foot that plants itself in her back, sending her sailing over to her executioner.

The terrified Dragonslayer lands at Kokoa's feet, and she slowly peers up at the collected face of her soon-to-be murderer. She gulps, cursing Anna to the very depths of Hell with her every breath. _'Anna, I'm gonna haunt you for the rest of your life!'_ She screams in her head.

"Thank you, Anna. Come along now, Lauren, we have quite a few things to discuss." With this, and a bright smile far too sharp to be genuine, Kokoa drags the auburn-haired wizard out of the guild by her ear.

"Ow, ear! Ow, ear! Anna, I swear I'll ki-" Lauren's empty death threats are cut off as the doors slam shut behind the two of them, and the guild is left staring at the doors.

"Anna?" Gray asks faintly, numb in shock. "Didn't you say Kokoa was gonna kill Lauren? Don't you feel the least bit bad that you just helped sentence your friend to death?"

The picture of serenity, Anna takes a sip from the teacup that Mirajane placed in front of her. "I do feel bad that Lauren's life has been cut short, but I'm sure I'll get over it eventually. She broke the rules, and she must be punished." She answered, sounding and looking very much like Erza. Next to her, the elder redhead nods appreciatively, obviously agreeing with Anna's response.

Then, Gray is reminded of something. "Didn't Lauren say the rest of True Heart is gonna murder you for leaving though? Isn't what you did the same as what Lauren did?"

"Not exactly, seeing as I actually alerted Master Kokoa and she did not, but I suppose it's the principle that matters. I anticipate they'll be angry with me, and when I return, I shall endure my own punishment." Anna replied in the same slow tone, as if even suggesting otherwise was stupid. No one else could really say anything about that, so they didn't bother. Anna had already proved herself to be just as dangerous and rageful as Erza when pushed, and no one really wanted to trigger her temper.

Ten minutes later, Kokoa returns, dragging a dazed Lauren on the floor behind her. She casually drops the Dragonslayer onto Anna's lap, ignoring the 'oomph' the redhead lets out at the sudden weight, and sits down on the far end of the bar, chatting with Makarov once more.

"So, Anna, could you tell us a bit more about you and Lauren? How long have you known each other?" Lucy asked. Anna swipes her tongue over her lips before answering.

"Sure. Laur and I have known each other since I was about six. And while I'd met her officially later, she'd seen me long before I'd spotted her. The first time she saw me, it was a warm April day, and I was busy chasing this kid from True Heart who had made fun of me. According to her, it was the hair that first drew her to me, she said it reminded her of rubies." She smiled, aiming a quirked eyebrow at her barely-conscious friend who rests in her lap. "The first time I _actually_ met her, I found her huddled up against the side of a building, tired, hungry, and beat-down. I offered her a meal at the guild and she accepted, and while she was eating, I talked to Mom and Dad and Master about her. Once she'd eaten, Master had asked Lauren to come to her office, and I came along to offer support even though it wasn't necessary."

"When we asked, Lauren explained that she was looking for her mother, Luna. As it turned out, Luna was a dragon who had disappeared on July 7th, X777." Ignoring the way Natsu and Gajeel oddly stiffen, she continues. "According to her, she had no other parents and knew no one else who could take her in. Master agreed to take Lauren into the guild if she wished to, but I was still a bit hesitant about the thought of Lauren being put up in the dorm house, just because of how she didn't know anyone in there. I told Mom and Dad how I felt, and the three of us brought our concerns to Master later, who agreed that it was a good idea if we let Lauren live with someone who she already knew. My parents adopted her, sort of, and she began living with us in our house. Of course, it wasn't long before we found out that she _also_ had an exorbitantly large amount of magic power, and so we had to get a court case and a limiter for her too."

"Did Lauren say anything else about her dragon?" Natsu suddenly asked, his face strangely serious-looking. Anna frowns, pursing her lips.

"Lauren said that Luna was close friends with a few Earthland dragons, but she never said much about them other than that they had taken in human children. I think she said Luna was friends with..Igneel?" The redhead pauses for a second, before nodding to herself resolutely. "Yeah, that was it. Igneel, and Grandeeney, Metalicanna, Weisslogia, and Skiadrum. Why? Other than occasionally talking to them, Lauren says Luna never really interacted with them much while they were still together."

"Does Lauren have any idea where Luna is?" He prompted further, not giving up.

At this, Anna fixes a deadpan, although no less sympathetic, look on the pink-haired Dragonslayer. "Do you really think she'd still be screaming about finding her if she knew where she was? No, Lauren unfortunately has no idea where Luna is, hasn't since she disappeared. She's turned over every stone, but still no sign of her. It hurts to know just how torn up about it she is, and believe me when I say I tried to help. I even tried asking Draco, but even that didn't work." Following this statement, the redhead begins muttering darkly under her breath, glaring down at the counter viciously.

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked.

Anna sighs in a world-worn way, gently petting Lauren's auburn hair. "When I asked Draco about it, he said that it wasn't his business and he and the dragons of Earthland have no affiliation with each other and that I should drop it." The redhead demonstrates her Spirit's lackadaisical attitude about the issue with a noncommittal wave of her hand. "Of course, I knew that was a total lie, because Draco is one of the most powerful Spirits of pretty much all time, and he does have some dominion over dragons of other planes. What confuses me is why he was lying. He's only ever done that twice before, and both times were to protect me. I don't understand what he thinks is so bad that he has to lie about it, but I do intend to get to the bottom of this BS."

The topic ended then and there, no one else being able to find anything to say, nor wishing to. They also didn't want to find out just how Anna was going to 'solve' the mystery regarding Draco and his shifty attitude regarding the issue.

Lauren soon regained normal brain activity soon after that, rising from Anna's lap and looking only vaguely mentally scarred. With her lap free, Anna was finally able to get up and use the ladies room like she'd had to for the past half-hour, scuttling away like her ass was on fire. As soon as she comes back, she shoves Lauren, who stole her seat, off of the stool and quickly reclaims it before the Dragonslayer can make a move.

Lauren, snarling and swearing colorfully under her breath, pulls herself back up and takes a seat on an unoccupied barstool, glaring heavily at her friend.

"Anna, is there anything else you can tell us about your band of Celestial Magic? How else does it differ from mine? How powerful is Draco, and how much did it take to summon him?"

Ignoring her snarling friend, Anna puts a finger to her lip in thought. "Well, my Celestial Magic is sort of a blend of both Caster and Holder, because I do use Keys, but I also use Caster spells that I learned from several books. Well, I mean, Celestial Caster Magic isn't unavailable to you, because there are clearly books around for it. I could probably get you some, if it would help. Caster is usually easier than anything, because you don't even have to call the Spirit out. Um, mine is different from yours not just because of the Spirits I'm contracted to, but also because of the practice. Until I was about thirteen, I had magic runes all over my body. My arms, legs, back, back of the neck, you name it, they were probably there."

"Why runes? And what kind?" Levy asked, suddenly appearing as she tended to whenever something new to discover popped up. If Anna was phased by her sudden arrival, she didn't show it.

"The runes were Celestial in nature, but they were mainly protection and balance sigils. The protection thing is obvious, because of how young I was and how inexperienced I'd been at the time, and the balance thing was to help regulate my magic until I reached an age where I could do it myself. That's a big difference with mine and Lucy's Celestial Magic. As for Draco, his power is...unimaginable. I actually can't calculate it, but that's normal for Diamond Spirits, especially of his rank. I suppose in human form, reducing a city to ashes in an hour or less would be child's play. And in dragon form? Scorching the entire continent would be a breeze." She revealed, dead serious.

Then, she was all smiles. "Thankfully for both myself and literally almost everyone on this fucking planet, I don't have enough power for him to use his full strength when I call him. Vulpecula though, she has more than enough. Summoning him legitimately almost killed me, I swear to Chronos, and I was still suffering Magic Deficiency Disease for a whole week after. However," She smirks then, smug. "Even though it hurt like hell and I'm putting this lightly, I managed to Summon Draco's full set that first time. Not many know it, but sometimes there's more than one Spirit for one Key, just like Gemini. Draco is one of those. He's the strongest out of his set, with Araceli being his second-in-command. There's a total of five in Draco's set, and I somehow managed to Summon all five of them the first time when two or three is customary."

They all turn to look at Lauren, and, upon seeing her large, predatory smirk, wonder if they should perhaps take a step back. "And," Anna adds. "Anyone who has owned the Key of the Dragon has a nickname or moniker. The Princess of Dragons, The Dragon Prince, you get the point."

"And you? What are you known as?" Gray finds himself asking, though he isn't sure he actually wants to know.

Anna's smirk reaches a positively evil level. "The Dragon Master." She replies. No one really knows how to respond to that, so they stay quiet.

"Anna?" Kokoa asks suddenly, drawing the redhead's attention. She gestures for the fourteen-year-old to come closer with a curling finger, and patiently waits for the girl to reach her.

"Yeah, Master? What is it?" The redhead asks, canting her head to the side.

"I know you've been having a wonderful time here in Magnolia, and I doubt you want to leave so soon, but I have a special mission that I need you to attend to. The job is requiring that we apprehend a Dream Mage causing trouble in Shirotsume and turn him into the Council." The Guild Master truly looks sorry, feeling horrible for even asking. "I'm so sorry, Anna, but I wouldn't ask if it wasn't needed."

Anna, who had been silent for most of the interaction, slowly sighs and then nods her head. "Fine," She agrees. "When do I have to get there?"

"A day or two from now. You should probably head back to True Heart and prepare a few changes of clothes. And I chose you specifically because part of the reward happens to be a Key, one I think you'd like adding to your arsenal." The strange glint in Kokoa's eyes vaguely unnerved Anna, but she decided to brush it off. Master Kokoa was often incalculably weird, with even weirder whims, and it was best to not spend too much time dwelling on them.

"Alright." She answers, before turning back to her group.

...

That night, Anna repacks her meager current belongings, making sure everything will be ready for her departure tomorrow. Lauren is also coming back with her, the Dragonslayer having thanked Lucy for taking her in when she didn't have to. Draco is curled around the redhead's neck, absently watching her as she preps.

 _"Do you think this job will be alright, Anna?"_ Draco's deep voice rumbles in question. In response to the slightly worried note in his tone, Anna rolls her eyes.

"I'm sure it'll be fine, you worry-wart. Chronos, if you hovered any more, you'd be just as overprotective as Delph and Hydra." She joked, smirking a bit as his claws tap her collarbone reprimandingly. "Whatever's waiting for me in Shirotsume, I'm sure I'll be able to take on. Besides, Master wouldn't give me a job that could kill me." She reasoned.

 _"If you say so."_ Draco relents, although he definitely doesn't sound appeased at all. _"You missed a shirt, by the way."_ He reminds her, prompting the girl to groan and unzip her bag again.

"I'm definitely sure, Draco." Anna responds, giving her bag a thorough check to make sure she hasn't missed anything. And while she appreciates Draco's concern, he's worried over nothing. She knows that's just how he cares, but sometimes he's almost as much of a mother hen as Hydra and Delphinus, which is saying something. She appreciates his concern, really, but it's all unfounded.

Even though her Guild Master was wild and unpredictable on a good day, she wasn't the kind to send her children on a suicide mission. That much, Anna is certain of.

* * *

**I hope you all liked chapter five! Now, this story will be posted in five chapter bursts, which means I'm gonna disappear off the face of the Earth (aside from updating The Lucky Seven when I finally finish it) in order to write chapters 6-10 of Heart to Heart.**

**I know it seems confusing, but this is purely so I don't forget to update, like an idiot. It's a much better process than anything else I've ever done. Trust the process XD Also, in the same lane as the five-chapter-burst thing, I'll post the chapter to fanfiction.net first, and then I'll copy the document from the document manager and paste it here on Ao3. So fanfiction is where the chapter will first show up, then Ao3.**

**See you next time!**

**-Cosmos**


	6. Chapter 6

**Welcome back to Heart to Heart, everyone! Did everyone enjoy the first five chapters? I hope so, because it's only gonna pick up speed from here on out!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, all rights are reserved for Hiro Mashima and affiliates. I only own True Heart and the people in it and the premise of this story, kay?**

**Chapter six: Dream of a Savior**

* * *

Anna yawned, irately scrubbing at her eyes in an attempt to wake herself up. After a particularly boring and grueling train ride to Shirotsume - that was just as long as the **_last_** time she was there, if not somehow longer - Anna finally steps off the train at Shirotsume's only train station, blinking blearily at the too bright sun. She glances around the station, idly hearing the clock ring its announcement of one pm.

According to Master, this job shouldn't take _too_ terribly long. Just capture a rogue Dream Mage and turn them in to the Rune Knights. Should be easy enough. If everything goes well, she'll be home by tomorrow afternoon. Though, with her luck, the entire job'll probably fall by the wayside and she'll be left to pick up the pieces, as usual. Heaving a sigh, the redhead makes her way to the Mayor's office, hiking her duffle bag higher on her shoulder. As she walks, she takes in the monumental change the town has gone through in such a short time.

Shirotsume had previously been controlled by Duke Everlue, but following his arrest and the investigation that dragged up several unsavory actions he'd made to acquire his wealth, the money-grubbing Duke had been completely stripped of his title and carted off to jail. Following his incarceration, the townspeople stepped up and formed a town council, of sorts, and had even elected a Mayor.

Clearly, with a new power balance and hard work, Shirotsume was no longer a border between the first class and second class. Smiling, the teenager waves at a man with a square-looking mustache, offering both him and his wife a wave as she passes. Thankfully, the people here look well-fed and cared for, which is all she can ask for. Seeing people living in squalor has never made her happy, so seeing this town take a turn for the better made her heart feel warm.

Weaving through the hustle and bustle of downtown Shirotsume takes a little longer than she'd like, but she finally arrives at the mayor's office fifteen minutes later.

"Excuse me, I'm the True Heart Mage responding to the mayor's job listing?" She announces to the mayor's secretary, Sharron, smacking the most polite smile on her face as she can. Unfortunately, her last run-in with Sharron hadn't exactly gone well, if she's being honest. The first time Anna had responded to a job here in Shirotsume was almost three months ago, and when she checked in with the mayor, his secretary had questioned if she was old enough to be a wizard.

Anna, having not appreciated the slightly derogatory tone in the elder woman's voice, had responded back in kind with a rather scathing remark, and that had marked the beginning of their tenuous acknowledgement.

"Yes," Sharron acknowledged, false cheer dripping from her words as her eyes shot daggers into the fourteen-year-old's brain. "Mr. Schoenberg is in his office now. Feel free to let yourself in."

Sending the woman a look that was more of a sneer than the smile she'd been aiming for, the redhead strolls right into the office. Sitting behind a desk at the far end of the room is the mayor of Shirotsume, Martin Schoenberg. "Hello, Mayor Schoenberg." Anna says, alerting the man of her presence.

"Ah, good afternoon, Miss Crawford. I'm guessing you're here about the Dream Mage?"

"Yes, sir." The redhead confirmed, taking a seat in one of the chairs in front of the desk. "Now, could you perhaps give me some info about this Dream Mage? What have they been doing? How serious is the situation?"

"Of course." Mr. Schoenberg nodded, clasping his hands together on the desk. "Recently, there have been numerous reports of civilians falling asleep suddenly and waking up to find their belongings missing. I suspect the Dream Mage is using their magic to put the civilians to sleep so they can steal their possessions." And then Anna's gut started twisting uncomfortably as the mayor grew more serious. "And that's not all. About a day ago, an elderly woman went to see her daughter because she hadn't heard from her in a while, and found the house in shambles and her daughter dead."

"And so you suspect this Dream Mage is also responsible for the woman's murder." The teenager inferred gravely, earning a nod. "Then rest assured, Mayor Schoenberg, that this criminal will be caught and brought to justice."

"Thank you, Miss. I'm grateful that someone even came as quickly as you have."

"It's no trouble, I didn't have much going on," The teenager lied smoothly, ignoring the very real want to just hurry up the damned job and get back to Erza. But oh! Erza was unfortunately out of Magnolia at the moment, Anna couldn't help but bemoan to herself. Through a recent lacrima call with Lucy, the blonde informed her that Team Natsu was currently on a short vacation in Akane, courtesy of a newly-restored Leo. As it turned out, that Loke guy Anna had seen during her stay in Fairy Tail was actually Leo the Lion, the famed leader of the Zodiac who was banished for protecting his friend Aries from their shitty wizard.

Anna certainly hadn't expected that one, but perhaps she should have. Considering how much of a player Loke is, and that Leo is one as well - according to Hydra at least, but isn't that the pot calling the kettle black? - it's no surprise that they were the same person. In retrospect, she should have seen it sooner.

"And, should she be willing-" The mayor trailed off, regaining her attention as he opened one of his desk drawers. Once he'd grabbed what he was looking for, he held his hand up in the air, and her eyes immediately locked onto the gray, ruby-encrusted Key dangling from a cord. "-then you're more than welcome to accept this in addition to the cash reward."

"How'd you know I'm a Celestial wizard?" She asks quietly, her dark brown eyes never once straying from the beautiful, shining Key.

"I used to be a wizard myself, Miss. I know one of my kind when I sense one." He responded, giving her a devious little smirk, amused green eyes sparkling. "In any case, should you complete the job, then the monetary reward, along with this, is all yours."

"Is there any time-frame that I need to complete the job in?" She asked, finally tearing her eyes away from the Key to properly give him her attention. Mayor Schoenberg shakes his head in the negative, returning the Key to its resting place.

"No, not particularly. But the sooner the better, I'd say."

Nodding, Anna found that more than reasonable. "Yes, sir. I'll take care of everything. Thank you for meeting with me. If that's all, I'm going to go begin planning."

"Of course. Be careful, and good luck, Miss Crawford." He reached forward to shake her hand and she reciprocated, giving him a nod and a smile, before turning and exiting, her mind swirling with attack plans. But first, she'd need a base of operation.

Unfortunately, by the time she found a hotel, it was well past dinner and her stomach was rumbling terribly. However, her day wasn't entirely fruitless, because she'd set up very careful, very camouflaged magic sensors to track when only Dream Magic was being used. And while these sensors are rather commonplace, especially in her line of work, the ones she'd set up today are rather special.

Because of a meticulous modification she'd made, these sensors, if they happened to detect Dream Magic being used, would send out a physical component that would cause people to subconsciously avoid the area out of pure discomfort. The feeling of discomfort is typically sent out through sound waves, and it doesn't hurt anyone, but it encourages them to steer clear of the area by the sheer uncomfortable nausea. A bit underhanded, perhaps, but a necessary evil.

In her line of work, it was best to keep civilians out of magical disputes if she could.

Shoving a forkful of room-serviced chicken alfredo into her mouth, the young wizard carefully monitors the sensors she'd set up earlier. Truthfully, she really hopes they don't go off tonight, because she'd really appreciate a good night's sleep before she goes into Ass-Kicking Mode. Just then, an uncontrollable itching sensation grips both of her wrists and ankles, and with a groan, she struggles to yank her boots and socks off. Once those are off, she goes for the cuff bracelets surrounding her wrists and pulls those off. Scratching the tender skin of her ankles and wrists with all she has, the crimson-haired wizard lets out a relieved sigh.

She continues scratching for what feels like hours, or at least until the itching goes away. By the time she's done, her skin is slightly pink and has more than one nail mark emblazoned on it, striking clear through the runes tattooed on her.

 _'Goddamn these runes,'_ Anna thought to herself disdainfully, glaring down at the golden runic tattoos adorning her skin. Aiming another baleful look at the glittering runes, she picks her fork up again and resumes eating, wishing to every god in the universe that her magic didn't have to be so difficult. She loves her magic, truly, with every fiber of her being, but sometimes it had some real annoying - or painful - setbacks. She remembered how those same runes used to span the entirety of her body. She remembered how kids in Oshibana, wizard or otherwise, made fun of her for the magical script covering her from head to to. She'd ignored the mindless teasing to the best of her ability, but to this day, it had given her quite a few subconscious self-image problems. She'd been overjoyed when the runes dissolved away when she'd turned thirteen, finally giving her a chance to live a normal life, without having those troublesome scripts making her life harder.

True, they'd been placed on her to help her and keep her safe, and she could accept that, but she couldn't help the darker thoughts that couldn't help but wonder if she wouldn't have been bullied if she hadn't had those runes on her. She sometimes wondered idly if she ever could have grown up with pretty, unmarked skin like all of her friends. Of course, her friends and parents and even Master had told her numerous times that her runes were so pretty, all glittery and gold, but no one could see how much it hurt when she was called a freak for them.

Aside from the mental scars she'd acquired indirectly from the runes, they also tended to overload her nerves and make her skin itch relentlessly where they laid. She remembered vividly just how hard she'd have to scratch her skin to get the itching to stop, and how sometimes she'd even draw blood on accident. So yes, Anna was _unbelievably_ happy to finally have the majority of those damnable runes off of her skin. She'd be even happier when the rest of them melted away, but that would have to wait a little while longer, perhaps. Like Hydra, Vulpy, and Draco said, she still wasn't as strong as she could be, nor was she safe enough to risk not having those protective sigils laid on her skin.

Giving a long-aspirated sigh, the redhead finishes her meal and then swipes her lacrima off the bedside table, opening the holographic keyboard to send a message to Lauren. Once it was sent, she closed it, spent the next hour or so reading up on Dream Mages and possible countermeasures, and...

Groggy and confused, Anna slowly pulls something hard off her face, finding it to be an open book. She furrows her eyebrows and her gaze sweeps across the room. Judging by how the lights are still on and she woke up with a book on her face, she must've fallen asleep without noticing. Sitting up and letting out a groan at the crack that came from her back, the young wizard climbs off of the bed and pads her way to the in-suite bathroom, ready to set about her day. The faster she catches this damned criminal, the better.

...

This job sucks _ **ass**_ , Anna decided very firmly. Of course nothing ever goes according to plan. Maybe Draco was right. Maybe this job _will_ kill her, or at least her opponent might, anyway. She didn't doubt Master had her best interest in mind, but goddamnit, lack of information can kill.

Wondering how the rat bastard had managed to detect she was in the area when she had her aura hidden, the redhead narrowed her eyes, trying to think of a plan. Tracking the Dream Mage hadn't been a problem, per se, since he'd all but lit up one of the sensors on the far end of town - she suspected he did that on purpose, but how he'd found her sensors, she doesn't know. The problem was that, unfortunately, this Dream Mage was somehow at least three times stronger than her. He had to be at least a new SS-Class rank or something.

Their battle has been going on for quite a while now, her doing her best to both deflect damage away from herself and also protect the surrounding structures, while he seemed to not give a single shit about their environment, doing everything he could to try and take her out. Her ankle had already been clipped by a high-velocity brick, leaving her at a marginal disadvantage, something he seemed to notice.

She'd already exhausted Alvara's Diamond Dress in stopping a stray blast of magic from taking out a building and to heal her ankle to the best of her ability, but she was still left with a visible limp, favoring her left leg. She really didn't want to bring out Hydra or his Diamond Dress, considering just how unpredictable his temper, and thus his Dress's capabilities, could be. Vulpecula...

Well, it's best not to involve her at all. Plus she also didn't want to let him see her trump card, good ol' Vulpus Minor. Draco was another no-go, purely because of how destructive his powers were. She probably could have gotten away with calling out Adena or Titus, but calling out Draco himself was a risky move she just couldn't take with her current surroundings. It didn't matter that the sensors and battle alike had kept any nearby civilians from getting roped into the madness; calling _him_ out was just a bad idea right now.

...

This is not going well. That's all Anna's really sure of. So far, at least three buildings have, unfortunately, been taken out in the struggle, despite her best efforts to drag the fight away from town, and she's unearthed about nine stray cats in the fight, one of which saw fit to get retribution for being disturbed by giving her two sets of stinging scratches, one on her cheek and the other on her neck.

She's panting as quietly as she can, struggling to catch her breath, hoping to Chronos above that this Mage can just have a spontaneous stroke or something and pass out so she can end this nightmare already.

"I'm growing bored of this, Little Wizard. Why don't you make this easier for both of us and come out?" She hears his voice, confident and condescending, suggest smoothly from somewhere behind her hiding place and slightly to the left.

 _'Not on your life, you slimy bastard.'_ The redhead couldn't help but remark to herself, scowling from behind a wall. At this point, her priority is more so surviving than apprehending him. If she manages to get out of this fight with her life and all of her limbs and organs, she'll be happy. She'll worry about catching the Mage when she gets to that bridge.

Abruptly, the wall she'd been hiding behind explodes, sending her flying into an abandoned fruit cart. She groans, feeling bruises form in places she didn't know she had. Anna's only barely pulling herself out of the messy remains of the cart when the Dream Mage stalks over and plants his hand around her throat. Her spine tingles as she feels magic rich in the air, knowing deep in her soul that he's casting a spell and she isn't going to like it.

She's right when she feels a strange, bone-deep exhaustion building rapidly in her body, leaving her to slump against the ground and the broken wood boards, helpless as he hovers above her with a smug grin. Her body is bruised and beaten, her mind swimming with panic and anxiety, but the spell is wrapping tightly around her, tight chains of magic pinning her where she lies.

"Go to sleep now, Little Wizard. Dream of your parents, who will never come back. Dream, _and_ _never wake up_." With these hissed words ringing in her ears, Anna's conscious was almost forced into slumber, when the Dram Mage's spell was interrupted.

"Hey, get your paws _**off**_ of my guildmate." A strong, feminine voice commands. Scowling thoroughly at the interruption, the Dream Mage's head snaps up, his dark eyes narrowed against the glare of the sun.

High up on the edge of a building not decimated during the scuffle stands a woman with long white-blonde hair and a pair of mix-matched eyes, the right one scarlet red and the left a haunting silver. She glares at him through the curtain of her blonde locks, flashes of her red eye peaking through her sidebang.

"What do you want?" The Dream Mage asks, although he doesn't really care. What he does care about is that he was interrupted when he was _so close_ to ending the Little Wizard's interference with his plans.

Through hazy eyes, Anna follows her opponent's line of sight, finally seeing what he is after a short second. "Lillian…" Anna slurs with exhaustion coating her words, on the verge of passing out then and there.

"Hi there, Annie-sweetie. I'll have this over in a second, okay? Just chill out there and try not to fall asleep." Anna nodded weakly, letting her head thump back onto the ground with a yawn. She lies there, tiredly unconcerned about much at all really, only vaguely hearing the sounds of rather intense combat. Her eyelids are heavy with the spell, and she's using all she's got to keep from falling completely under the spell's influence. She has a feeling if she does, she may never wake up.

The next thing she's acutely aware of is the steady beeping of a machine, and as her eyes finally seem to clear the haze that encapsulated them, she finds herself staring at a stark white ceiling. The overpowering smell of antiseptic helpfully clears up her confusion, and she notes that she's in a clinic or hospital. She also notes that the majority of the sleep spell is out of her system, which is a relief. One of the doctors must have flushed the magic out of her system.

"Feeling better?" A voice asks to her right. Anna turns her head to see Lillian, one of True Heart's most powerful SS-Class Mages and her personal friend, sitting in a chair next to her bed, her hands calmly placed in her lap.

"Yeah," She answers, swallowing to clear her dry throat. "I don't remember much after he cast that spell though. What happened?"

"Well," Lillian crosses her legs then, "after he cast the sleep spell on you, which would have killed you might I add, I stepped in to take care of it. He was quite strong, I admit I had a bit of a problem taking him out. He's now in the Rune Knights' custody on his way to Era for trial. After he was arrested, I brought you to Shirotsume's Saint Maria Hospital. And here we are." The blonde easily explained.

Immediately, Anna feels shame rear its ugly head and roar up inside her. "Sorry.." She whispers, reaching her arm to scratch at the back of her neck. Outwardly, she appears contrite her guildmate had to come and rescue her, but on the inside? She feels so much worse.

Shame and self-loathing tear at her with unrelenting cruelty, and a sickening taste is in her mouth. Of course Lillian would have no problem with taking that bastard out, she's one of True Heart's strongest Mages. Meanwhile, Anna can't say she's anything special. After all, she's so weak that Draco and Hydra can't even use their full power. They have to seal large portions of their power because she isn't able to handle it.

"Don't worry about it." Lillian says, unknowingly cutting through Anna's ugly, negative thoughts. "That's what guildmates do, right? In any case, the doctors said that other than the spell and your ankle, you aren't exactly seriously hurt. They put some numbing cream on your bruises and gave you a light pain medication for your ankle, but said you can leave whenever you want as long as you try to keep your weight off your ankle."

Numbly, Anna nods. Before Lillian can say anything more, likely wishing to ask about Anna's rather robotic, withdrawn demeanor, the doctor walks in. Wisely, Lillian keeps her mouth shut and lets the doctor do what he's trained for so she and Anna can get home.

...

The air between the two True Heart wizards is stiflingly thick, Anna staring out the window, although her mind is in a completely different place. Lillian, in an attempt to ignore the terse atmosphere, has her head buried in a book, not that she's picking up any of what her eyes are technically seeing. Ever since she and Anna had spoken in the hospital nearly an hour ago, she'd been worryingly quiet.

"I'll be right back." Anna says suddenly, rising to her feet. Lillian looks up, her mix-matched eyes swimming with worry.

"Are you okay?" The blonde asks, unable to hide her concern. Anna's moods rarely take this kind of turn, but it's never pleasant when they do.

Anna sends a sunny smile back at her friend and mentor, nodding. "Yeah, I'm fine. Nature's just calling," She says, excusing herself. As soon as her back is turned to Lillian, the smile drops from her lips, and she silently makes her way to the restroom, locking the door behind her. As soon as she's inside, the dam breaks, and she sinks to the floor, bringing her knees to her chest and burying her face in her legs as she tries her best to keep from crying too loudly.

Stupid, stupid, _stupid!_ How dumb can she be?! Her teeth grit themselves into a sneer, her brown eyes narrowed and overflowing with tears as her chest heaves for air as she chokes on her sobs.

She's mortified. She's supposed to be strong. She's supposed to be S-Class strong. But that Dream Mage nearly killed her and he wasn't even trying that hard. She's mortified that she wasn't strong enough. She's mortified she was almost killed by some thief. And finally, she's mortified she had to be saved by her mentor.

Just the reminder of it makes embarrassed tears build up even more, her face turning an unhealthy shade of red in her discontent. She continues sobbing into her knees, occasionally gasping as the force of her crying drives the air from her lungs.

Absently, she feels the tingling sensation of one of her Spirits trying to open their Gate, but she promptly nixes that idea by firmly barricading their Gate closed. She doesn't really care _who_ it is trying to come out right now, she doesn't want anyone here. She's already had enough embarrassment today.

* * *

**So this chapter leaves off on a miserable note. I have no regrets. *cackles evilly***

**Also, when I say lacrima in here, I know how the second time skip has them and they look like phones. My story still begins in X782 though, so none of that. Until I get to X792, anytime I refer to a lacrima, I mean the spherical kind. Just clarifying.**

**Check out the next four chapters to see what happens next!**

**-Cosmos**


	7. Chapter 7

***JennaMarbles voice* Here we go, baby! Chapter seven! This one is another True Heart/Anna centric chapter, sorry if no one likes that. Chapters six and seven (maybe part of chapter eight) mainly follow True Heart and Anna, because they happen during the after-affects of the Loke arc and the full Tower of Heaven arc, which don't need Anna's involvement. The most you'll see of Anna interacting with Team Natsu or the like will be a brief lacrima call or a name drop like last chapter. But don't worry cause this won't last forever, just until these two arcs pass.**

**I have a really nice arc planned that's gonna come up, so I hope you all like it. *insert evil grin***

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, all rights are reserved for Hiro Mashima and affiliates. Only the True Heart guild and characters and the story premise belong to me.**

**Chapter seven: Insecurities Under My Bed**

* * *

It isn't often that Anna mysteriously disappears, but whenever she does, it's always positively infuriating. The first five minutes, Erin let it slide. Anna oversleeps sometimes, fine. But when _twenty-five_ minutes passed and there was still no sign of Anna in True Heart's expansive gym and training room, the blonde felt rage course through her veins. All but abandoning her good mood, the fourteen-year-old stalks out of the gym, bypassing the rest of the luxurious rooms on the recreational floor of True Heart's massive guildhall. Her face is stern and set in a disapproving look as she stomps all the way from the guildhall to the dormitory, offering the dorm matron, Holly, only the briefest of acknowledgements as she heads single-mindedly to the stairs on the right.

The tall, winding staircase leads up to the girls' floor, and Erin, having seen how messy the boys' floor can be, is immensely grateful that most of the girls can at least keep the common room and the hallway clean. However, her slowly-returning good mood once again takes a journey down the toilet when she doesn't locate Anna in the hallway or in the common room. By this point, she's ready to spit fire, glaring down at the carpet as though it insulted her.

She looks up then, ready to say to hell with calmness and just search every inch of Oshibana for the damnable redhead, when she spots Lauren jogging up the steps. "Lauren!" She calls, making the Dragonslayer stop, pausing just short of the top step. "Have you seen Anna? We were supposed to train today but she wasn't in the gym."

Lauren finally ambled over to the blonde Requip Mage, shaking her head with pursed lips. "She's in her room. _Wait!_ " She whisper-yelled abruptly, seeing Erin gearing up to stomp over to the redhead's room and probably drag her out by the hair. "Listen, she hasn't come out since she came back from her job in Shirotsume. Not even to get food. I mean, she's got a kitchen in her room, but still. She hasn't said anything, but I'm pretty sure the job didn't go well." She revealed quietly, hoping to Chronos the redhead couldn't hear her.

"Seriously?" Erin asked, partly shocked. That'd probably explain why she wasn't in the dinner hall the last few nights. Erin had just figured Anna was tired. "Wait, what do you mean by 'didn't go well'?" She asked, quoting the Dragonslayer's words.

"Well, other than the obvious limp she had when she came back," Erin's eyebrows rose into her hairline, but she let Lauren continue. "she looked mortified and embarrassed and really fucking sad. She and Lill came back at the same time, so I asked her about it. She said the person Anna'd been sent to take care of was a bit stronger than they'd anticipated. Lillian ended up having to curb-stomp the guy and take Anna to the hospital."

"Damn...And you said she's still in her room?" Erin sends a worried look towards Anna's closed door. She isn't very used to Anna being in a bad mood, considering just how jovial she usually is. It's honestly hard to believe such a bright, energetic girl could ever be down in the dumps.

Lauren hums in answer, her gaze narrowed on the carpeted floor. "Yeah, just hiding I guess. I got her some breakfast earlier, and when I last checked on her she'd eaten some of it, but from what I could see she's still hiding under the bed. Won't let anyone in the room. Barely even let me in." It was clear that while Lauren was more used to this mood than Erin was, having known Anna for far longer, she still didn't like it.

"I hate when she gets like this, I never know what to do. I don't know if I can help her at all, and it sucks to know she's just in there, not wanting to let anybody in." The Dragonslayer admitted, feeling so utterly useless.

Suddenly, Erin gets an idea. It's not likely to work, a Hail Mary if you will, but she may as well ask. "You think she'd let Erza?"

"Don't see why." Lauren answered flatly. "And Erza's still on vacation at Akane Beach anyway, so it wouldn't make much of a difference even if she could get Anna to let her in."

The two stand there in the hall for a few more seconds, unable to think of anything else to really say, before Lauren breaks the uncomfortable silence. "How about we go down to the gym and spar for a bit? I've been working on a new technique and I'm dying to try it out." The Dragonslayer said, forcing an upbeat note into her tone. If Erin notices just how fake the cheer in her voice is, she doesn't comment on it, merely nodding and heading towards the stairs.

As they descend the steps, Lauren aims a small glance over her shoulder back at her friend/sister's room, knowing damn well she'd felt Hydra's magic. Maybe he'll be able to drag Anna out of her funk.

...

Hydra materializes in his Master's bedroom, glancing around the seemingly empty space with half-massed azure eyes. "Gee," He says in a louder-than-necessary tone, purposefully making sure she can hear him. "I wonder where Anna is? She was supposed to check in with Drac a few nights ago, but she never showed up. The pissy dragon's ready to shit a brick.."

The room remains silent following his call out, idly making him wonder if Anna's hiding somewhere else, despite feeling her magical energy in the room. She'd be a lot easier to locate had Draco and Vulpecula not taught her how to mask the sound of her breathing. Unfortunately, she'd been trained how to remain hidden, and she'd been trained **well** _._ She wouldn't be coming out until she was good and ready.

Mentally giving a world-worn sigh, he makes a big show of meandering around her room, his thick, heavy boots clomping on the ground, hoping Anna won't pop out and cut his leg off. When she doesn't even make so much as a peep, he frowns, aiming a pensive look at the bed. "I hope she's not hiding under the bed, my fat ass might crush her." He jokes pointedly, and the slightest sound of a shuffle meets his ears. Grinning, he plops down on the bed, grateful she had enough sense to move.

"Now, think Hydra. Where could your little Annie be hiding? She doesn't hide very often, but she's good at it thanks to Drac and Vulps." He pretends to think, tapping his thick boots against her floor. To his utter growing irritation, Anna remains quiet as a dormouse. Is she even breathing? He can't help but wonder. Vulpecula _did_ teach Anna how to hide the sound of her breathing, so it's plausible she's holding her breath or at least concealing the sound.

 _'Damn that sly fox,'_ He snarls in his mind, wishing for everything that he could whack her around the Spirit Realm for just a bit, entirely ignoring the fact that she was stronger than him. That damned fox always makes things ten times harder, and he's often the one left on clean up duty. Now he's left picking up the pieces and trying to force his willful Master out from her hiding spot, honestly feeling like an idiot.

Seeing as he's getting nowhere with his current method, he decides to switch angles. Trying to swallow the disgust that is quickly rearing up, he bites out his next words. "Annabelle Josephine Crawford, if you don't come out from under there, I'm going to have to drag you out by the ankles. Don't make me do that." In the end, his irritation with Vulpecula ends up making the words much more hard-hitting than he'd intended, and he winces.

 _"Shut up, Hydra."_ Anna's voice shook softly with anger, the fragility in her tone making the glare drop from his face. Well at least she's talking now, he can't help but acknowledge, even if the way it was brought about didn't appeal to him.

"Thanks for joining the conversation, Anna. Now can we talk this episode out like adults? Or are you going to continue sulking like a toddler?" He asks bluntly, although he feels a pang of guilt smack him in the gut when he catches the sound of her breath hitching. He hates being the bad guy, but someone has to. When Anna gets into these moods, everyone, human or otherwise, tends to coddle her or leave her to her devices. Forcing her out of her shell and making her talk it out, while currently unpleasant, will benefit her in the future.

It doesn't make him feel any better right now though.

Hydra's brought out of his self-loathing by Anna, who mutters something unintelligible from under her bed. He sighs, wishing he had Vulpecula's admittedly superior hearing. "What?" He asks, waiting for her to repeat whatever she'd said.

When a tiny 'I'm weak' sounds from under the bed, the blue-haired Spirit lets out another sigh, deciding to take a seat on the floor next to the bed. "Why do you think you're weak, Anna?"

"Because I couldn't defeat that Dream Mage. I'm S-Class; you'd think I would be able to take him, right? But no, instead I got my ass handed to me and Lillian had to save me." The redhead explained bitterly, and even though he can't see her Hydra can imagine her resting her chin on her forearms and glaring down at the floor beneath her like it personally wronged her.

"Why don't you come out?" He asks gently, dropping the harsh act entirely. It exhausts him and doesn't get him anywhere anyway. "It'll be easier for us to talk without you mumbling into the floor."

Once she's crawled out from under her bed, Hydra sits down on the bed with her. "Now let's go over this. You're upset because someone is stronger than you?" A glare sent his way answers him.

"You know that's not it." She bites back venomously, her eyes narrow.

Ignoring the insulted note in her voice, he tries again. "Then is it because the opponent was stronger than you expected?"

The answering silence in the room is deafening. Hydra sighs, knowing deep down he honestly should have figured this. His Master is so hard on herself, it's a wonder more people don't notice. It's pretty obvious to see when you actually look at her, but some just don't pay attention long enough to see the over-worker in Anna.

"Anna, jobs are never cut and dry, you should know this. Sometimes they'll take a turn you don't expect. Sometimes the enemy will have a trick up their sleeve. That's life, and you're just going to have to accept this, and do your best to never underestimate or make unfounded assumptions. Okay, so he was one of those S-Class who are closer to the top; so what? Yeah, more information about the job probably would have helped, but no one had any info to give. In the end, you have to make do with what you have."

The room is once more enveloped in silence, but he doesn't really feel Anna's embarrassment and shame quite as strongly as he had before, so he's willing to guess his words helped, even if only a little bit. For now, even that's enough.

Licking his lips contemplatively, Hydra folds his legs under him, frowning. "How about you meditate for a while? Maybe that'll help. And Alvara said you might be ready for another unsealing soon."

After a moment of deliberation, Anna nods, crossing her legs and placing her hands in the proper meditative form. Slowly, runes begin climbing up her body, glittering gold against her skin. Runes and sigil lines crawl up her neck to her face, two long lines appearing on her cheeks, stopping just below her eyes. Her magical aura rises from her skin, casting a golden, red-tinted hue on her body.

Hydra observes silently as she meditates, not wanting to bother her or stunt her progress. He can feel as her magic grows, and considering where she'd been at when he first made a contract with her, she's improved by leaps and bounds.

In the end, Anna ended up mediating for two full hours. When she finally opened her eyes, satisfied for the time being with her progress, she found Hydra still sitting cross-legged with her on the bed, his arms crossed over his chest and his head down. When she leaned in for a closer look, she picked up the sound of his snores, and her eyes narrowed.

That dirty son of a bitch fell asleep while she spent two full hours meditating? She was the one doing all the work, not him! _'This is bullshit! I demand a retrial!'_ The redhead shrieked in her head, glaring daggers at the Serpent Spirit.

Just as her rage was reaching an all-time high though, a thought hit her. A positively evil thought. With a smirk demonic enough to frighten the devil himself, she carefully got up off the bed. She carefully places her hands on Hydra's shoulders, and takes a deep breath.

"Hydra wake up! Vulpy's found you and she's really pissed off!" Anna cried suddenly and dramatically, shaking the blue-haired man with all she's got.

As predicted, the Serpent Spirit woke with a jolt, leaping off the bed and whipping his head around frantically with wide eyes. "I didn't do anything, Vulpecula!" He shouted defensively, looking around for his perceived death. When he saw no such horrible end coming for him, two and two added up and he slowly turned to give Anna a glare.

"You sneaky brat," He hissed. In response, Anna gives an utterly unconcerned shrug of her shoulders, as if not bothered by terrifying the daylights out of her Spirit.

"You fell asleep on me while I worked for two damn hours. I had to get back at you somehow." She explained, smirking. Hydra doesn't find the situation as humorous as Anna does, however, and he continues glaring heavily at her.

"I'm headin' home, you little devil. Goddamn, Vulpecula taught you _**too**_ well..." He snarled, and his disgruntled voice faded in an echo as his body dematerialized into a shower of golden sparkles.

"Why thank you, Hydra." She comments just to piss him off, knowing he can still vaguely hear her. As soon as she's sure his presence is gone, she stretches her arms high above her head. Meandering into the bathroom, she decides to take a nice long soak instead of a shower, just to sit and evaluate things a little. His little pep-talk helped a little, but she does still feel kinda shitty. She doesn't blame Lillian for saving her, quite the opposite actually. She just wished she'd been strong enough that a rescue wasn't needed.

She soaks in her large bathtub for a while, long enough for the boiling hot water to turn tepid, and then cold, before she finally decides to get out and dry off. As soon as she's dry, she puts on a pair of tan shorts and a purple tank top, threading her crimson hair into twin tails on the sides of her head. Once she's done dressing, she comes back to her room, picks up the constellation book off her bedside table, and withdraws the Key she'd received from Lillian on behalf of Shirotsume's mayor.

It doesn't take long for her to identify the Key as belonging to the Spirit of the Divine Flame, Ascella. Ascella is a Grey Diamond Spirit, which means she isn't quite as strong as the Black Diamond Spirits like Draco, Vulpecula, and Hydra, but she's still plenty powerful. Ascella's mainly a combat-oriented Spirit, and since she uses fire, she may work well with Draco and Vulpecula, should she accept a contract.

Snapping the book closed, Anna stands and clears some of the clutter off her floors, if only to provide a little bit of standing room. She can clean for real later. Right now, she'd like to meet this Spirit and hopefully create a new contract.

Holding the Key out in front of her, her eyes slide closed and she speaks the words that set her soul alight. _"I call upon thee in the world of the Celestial Spirits. I beckon you to my side at once! Pass through the Gate!"_ Drawing the Key back to her body, she raises it up into the air, passing over her heart, and she kisses the stem as it passes her face, until it's high above her head. _"Open! Gate of the Divine Flame! Come, Ascella!"_

The sound of a roaring flame lets her know the Summon went through, and a magic circle in a deep crimson color appears on her floor. From the circle a figure materializes, to Anna's delight. She watches as the Spirit's form manifests slowly, leading up from crimson booted feet, to long tanned legs. A short red dress with a yellow underlay appears next, along with arms clothed in crimson gloves, to a gold choker at her neck. Her face is alert and focused, dark orange eyes serene and observant. Golden star earrings glitter from her ears, while her forehead is decorated by a golden circlet with a large star as the centerpiece. Her deep crimson hair is pulled into twin odango buns with long trails that almost touch the floor, and her curly bangs are tented and fanned to frame her face.

"Hello, Celestial Mage. My name is Ascella. What do you require from me?" She asked formally, her eyes never straying from Anna's.

"Hello, Ascella. My name is Anna Crawford, and I would be honored if you'd accept a contract between the two of us. I can guarantee I'm a competent Mage, and I have several contracts with your brethren."

Ascella remains silent, carefully observing Anna and her worth. The True Heart wizard remains still, not flinching as she feels Ascella's burning hot magic brush against hers several times, assessing her capabilities and strengths. Soon enough, Ascella retracts her magic. And as if a switch has been flipped, her attitude does a complete 180.

"Sounds great! Oh, but we should probably discuss my service days." She says, her voice losing its stern quality to reveal a more chipper tone.

"Yeah, that would probably be best." Anna agrees, swiping a notepad off her desk along with a pen. "Okay, what days are you free?"

"I'm free Monday through Thursday usually, including Friday but only if I decide to offer you an extension." The Spirit said. "Oh, and I refuse to, like, burn your tampons when you're done with them or anything."

The casualness in her voice when she said this had Anna choking on her own spit. "T-Tampons?! Ew! Why the hell would I make you do that?!" She asked, red-faced. In response, Ascella's face turned into a sour expression of disgust.

"You'd be surprised what some Celestial wizards make their Spirits do. But like I said, I'm not going to act as your personal waste disposal." Ascella replied dully, clearly remembering something she'd rather not have, judging by how her lips further twisted.

"Got it, not that I'd make you do anything like that anyway. That's disgusting.." Anna muttered, her face also in a disgusted twist. "Anyway, on the topic of combat."

Snapping back to the task at hand, Ascella righted herself, letting go of the unpleasant memory. "Right. I don't kill innocents, be they young or old, and I absolutely refuse to murder an animal unless it's a true threat to one of us." Ascella's face returned back to its calm reservation, letting know Anna just how serious she was about this topic.

Anna nods at her words, agreeing with them in full. The thought of killing or hurting anyone who was innocent made her absolutely sick, and she was glad this Spirit thought the same way. "I can agree with that. I wouldn't ask you to kill or maim anyone who didn't deserve it."

"Thank you for that. I think working with you will be a treat, Anna Crawford." Ascella grinned widely, and Anna felt a smile of her own grace her lips.

"Me too, Ascella. Thank you for agreeing to a contract with me in the first place." The two shook hands, signaling the finalization of the discussion. Anna signed the notepad paper serving as their contract first, before handing the pad and pen over to Ascella, who also signed it. As soon as both parties had signed, the paper glowed a bright red color before igniting into orange flames, burning away.

"I can tell you've used Diamond Dresses before, haven't you?" Ascella asked suddenly, bringing Anna away from staring at the last remaining embers of the fire. She'd felt the traces of her Celestial brothers and sisters on Anna as she'd been examining her earlier. Anna nods, letting her know her question is correct.

"Yes, I have. My Spirits Delphinus, Hydra, Draco, Alvara, and Vulpecula have shared their magic with me to allow me to don their Dresses when I need them." Anna replied, honestly feeling it better to just be upfront about it. Trust was the main thing the relationship between wizard and Spirit was based on, after all. It was better to just get it out in the open.

"And..you asked them to do that?" Ascella hesitantly asked her new Summoner. She had agreed to a contract, but that didn't mean she was just going to offer up her Dress all willy-nilly.

Pursing her lips, Anna shook her head to refute the question. "No, quite the opposite actually. As far as Hydra, Draco, Delphinus, and Alvara go, they only began sharing their Dresses with me once they knew they could fully trust me."

"...And Vulpecula?" The Spirit asked probingly, noticing how Anna had left the Fox Spirit out. Inwardly, Anna smirked, pleased that the Spirit had picked up on that.

"Vulpecula...she didn't even need to worry about trusting me, since she already knew everything about me. She had seen the entirety of my soul, from an extremely early age, so she didn't have any doubts to hesitate on." Anna said, subtly dropping her hint and waiting for the Spirit to pick it up.

Ascella frowned in confusion. "She didn't have any doubts? How is that-" Suddenly, she cuts herself off, her eyes widening in realization at the word "soul". Her dark orange eyes slowly lift to lock on Anna's form, suddenly seeing something that, while she'd never noticed, was there the whole time. She wasn't even sure how she'd missed it, that brilliantly glowing golden hue that shined from just underneath her skin, leaving no questions whatsoever as to what Anna really was.

"No way.." Ascella breathed, awed. Anna's cheeks turned a bit pink at the unadulterated staring, but she still looked confident. "So you're-"

"That's right. I'm Vulpecula's Minor Spirit. That's why she didn't have to worry about letting me use her Dress, because she'd already seen all my soul had to offer when she transformed me."

"I...I didn't expect that." Ascella admitted. Anna giggled in response, waving it off.

"It's cool. Since I look human and was born human, any Spirit would _naturally_ assume that I am human. I only became Vulpecula's Minor when I was about seven." The younger redhead explained easily. "Most Spirits can only see that I'm a Spirit myself when they look really close."

The Spirit still looked vaguely confused, and Anna's face twisted in amused sympathy. "If you have any other questions, you can ask Vulpecula about it. If it's alright with you though, I'd like to get some food." Anna said, and the statement was punctuated by the strong rumbling of her stomach.

"Of course, I won't keep you any longer." Ascella agreed and dissipated from the room in a shower of red-orange sparkles that drifted upwards. As soon as she was gone, Anna rose to her feet, absently spotting her reflection in the mirror. She slowly came over to stand in front of it, examining her face and body. She focused on her eyes, so much like her mother's that it hurt. She focused on her hair, just as crimson as her father's.

In the mirror, Anna could see how her eyes darkened and clenched with pain as she thought of her parents. While most of their memories are happy, she almost always seems to remember the more tragic memories. Coming back to Rosemary Village to find it in ruins and everyone she'd ever known either dead or missing. Having to mourn the loss of her home, her sister, and her friends all while turning to nomadic life. Losing her parents to the claws of a wyvern.

Why does it always seem like the darker memories stay longer than the happier ones? Is it a sick sort of punishment? Entertainment for the gods? Whatever it is, Anna hates it with a burning passion. She'd much rather think of her life with her parents when it wasn't plagued with terror and pain. She follows the movement of her hand as it moves up to her neck, gently touching the necklace hanging from her throat. It was a present from her parents, on her ninth birthday.

With her thoughts on her parents, of course, came the usual self-doubts and insecurities. Oftentimes, when she was already feeling down, old thoughts of _'am I good enough?'_ and _'are my parents proud of me?'_ spring up, reminding her of a very recent past, where she'd been consumed by her own grief and doubts. It was a terrible feeling, one that had nearly consumed her entirely in the early stages of her mourning. Nowadays, it was easier to drown out the intrusive, depressing thoughts, but it was still a daily struggle, even today. And that battle only grew more difficult the more Anna felt she had failed at something.

She takes another good look at her eyes, expressive, unguarded, _vulnerable_ , and took a deep breath. It takes a few seconds, but she finally wraps up those dark thoughts of uselessness and disparity, locking them up deep inside of her heart. With her thoughts once more back on track, she turns away from the mirror, striding over to her door and stepping out of it, letting the door shut behind her.

She's just making her way into the guildhall when she runs into Lauren - literally. "Anna!" Lauren exclaims happily before throwing her arms around the redhead. "I'm glad you're out! I was just about to check on you." Lauren's tone is playful, although the redhead can clearly see how worried her friend truly is.

"I'm searching for the legendary treasure known as 'lunch'. Wanna help me find it?" Anna responds in kind, letting a warm smile grace her lips. With a laugh, Lauren eagerly links arms with her pseudo-sister and they march off towards the dining hall.

"How are you doing?" Lauren asked over a buttered roll about ten minutes later. She and Anna had procured their meals and were now eating them at the outside eating area that True Heart's dining hall boasted, enjoying the airy breeze.

Anna observes a bluebird fly past as she takes a sip of her blueberry tea. "Better than I was earlier. Hydra came and talked to me for a bit, and then he convinced me to meditate. He ended up falling asleep for the entirety of it, and I got back at him for that by playing a prank on him. Once he left, _probably to go sulk-_ " She said, a smug tone in her words. "I summoned the new Spirit I got from that job from hell."

"Sounds eventful," Lauren commented, her mouth full. The Dragonslayer only closed her mouth when she spotted Anna's positively poisonous look. As soon as Lauren's mouth shut around her food, Anna's glare dropped and her face went back to normal.

"It was, I guess. I gained a new contract, Hydra dragged me out of my funk - sort of, and I got to play a prank on him and watch him react like a child." She grinned, although that grin of hers faded a bit when a burning sensation hit her leg. Scowling, she reached for her belt loop and pulled her key ring off, seeing Hydra's black Key glowing brightly, letting her know in no uncertain terms what he thought of her commentary.

"Oh hush up, Hydra. You know you acted like a baby. Otherwise you wouldn't be sulking." She said pointedly. The Key glowed even brighter for about half a second, and then the glow abruptly cut off. She rolled her eyes.

"He's quite the problem child," Lauren remarked, laughter in her voice. Anna burst out into laughter then, unable to contain it any longer.

As Anna laughed, Lauren watched, a small, grateful smile on her lips. Despite all his nagging and boo-hooing, Hydra really does care about Anna, and that shows on days like this, when he comes to comfort her even though he doesn't have to. She really does owe it to the temperamental Serpent Spirit, for managing to bring Anna out of her shell, even just a little bit.

* * *

**End of chapter note; I feel the need to mention that this chapter was perhaps one of the easiest to title. Don't know why.**

**Also I think I finished this chapter in like less than a week! Holy hell weasel! It took like, maybe four or five days! _How?!_**

**In any case, next chapter is more mundane shit, and then things will take a fucking turn! I hope you all are ready for that.**

**-Cosmos**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys! Welcome back to Heart to Heart! I've been on a bit of a writing roll since I finished chapter seven, so I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth! I hope you're ready for what I have planned for you, because I'm not slowing down!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, all rights are reserved for Hiro Mashima.**

**Chapter eight: Heart Snatcher**

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Friday morning finds Anna leisurely strolling through Oshibana, her head in the clouds and the sun on her face. After her self-imposed isolation, Anna was eager to get back out into the big wide world and take a break. Since she'd come out of her room last Sunday, she'd been meditating and training non-stop, both with her team members, and her fellow Spirits. Especially her newest Spirit, Ascella. As it turned out, Ascella has a hyperactivity and attention span comparable to Vulpecula's, which honestly shocked her. Vulpecula was widely known to be a bit of a space cadet, for lack of better word, so it was rather...surprising that anyone could be just as spacey as the Fox Spirit.

In spite of the surprising levels of hyperactivity, Ascella proved to be a very capable Spirit. Just as Anna had thought, Ascella worked amazingly well with Draco, their elements similar enough to the other that they interacted without much friction, unlike Draco and Hydra, for example. Plus, she didn't have to be asked something twice, also unlike Hydra, who always seems to moan and whine before complying with her wishes. Anna can't not see the irony of him being her elder Spirit, and yet he acts younger than her.

Speaking of that temperamental, childish Spirit, he'd been closely monitoring her seals alongside Vulpecula, and had confirmed once again that she was almost ready for another seal to be broken. Anna herself could also feel the next seal weakening, that same sensation that filled her whole body, occasionally sending shivers down her back. She knew that the unsealing had to be soon, or else she'd just be left like a sitting duck with all these symptoms of an overdue seal. She knew first-hand just how unpleasant that could be.

Yes, she'd rather get the seal broken sooner rather than later. The process itself was less than pleasant, but the payout was more than enough to make up for temporary pain.

"Hey watch out!" A young voice shouted suddenly, bringing her out of her thoughts. The redhead glances upwards to see a ball headed straight for her, and she obligingly opens her arms, waiting for the ball to land in her grip. Once its in her hands, she looks back down, seeing a couple of kids making their way to her. At the front of the group stands a young boy, moving over to her slowly, with a slightly guilty look on his face. "Sorry, miss. We weren't watching where we were kicking." He apologized.

Anna smiles, handing the ball back to the kid. "No problem, things happen. Just try and keep out of the street?" She asked, aiming a grin at the group. The group of kids slowly relaxed, and they too began to smile.

"Sure thing, miss. Sorry again!" They said and ran off once more, in the direction of the park. Shaking her head indulgently at the children, she continues on, heading for the shopping district. She's got some spare cash on her and she's itching to let it burn a hole in her pocket, especially since she's already paid this month's rent. Making a hard right into her favorite shop, she greets the woman attending the register with a wave, perusing the racks and shelves.

Spotting a nice maxi skirt, she picks it up off the rack and moves over to the tall mirror, holding it in front of her short purple skirt. Since Oshibana somehow ran hotter than most Fiorian towns in the summer, August heat was still going strong. To try and combat the heat, Anna had carefully selected a light purple skirt and a quarter-sleeve white off-the-shoulder shirt, along with a pair of flat strappy sandals, in the hopes that it could help keep the heat off her.

After a moment of deliberation, Anna puts the skirt back where she found it, moving on to the next thing that tickled her fancy. From her far left, she spots a blue skirt and moves closer to inspect it. It's about the same shade of blue as Hydra's eyes, with sequins all over the thing, and the material is nice and stretchy. Beside it is a rack full of identical pants made of the same material, only the pant legs are tight and then flare out widely around the knee. Smirking, she swipes one of each off the rack, making sure they're in her size, and ambles over to the dressing room to try them on.

The pants take a bit more finagling than the skirt does, so she may want to think of getting them in a size up, but she loves the way the material feels on her and how the sequins catch every stray source of light they can find. The skirt is just as pleasing as the pants, and she grins. Anna changes out of the skirt and back into her own clothing, stepping out of the dressing room with two of her picks in hand. She continues perusing the store, occasionally picking up something else that catches her eye, before she finally makes her way to the check-out, arms heavy with merchandise.

"Hello Anna," The cashier greets her, an indulgent smile on her face as she glances down at the redhead's spoils. "Rob a bank recently?"

Giggling, Anna reaches into her side bag for her wallet. "Not really. Just had some left over from a recent job, felt impulsive."

"I can understand that." The cashier said, ringing up the items. As soon as everything was rung up, Anna handed over the necessary cash. She waited for the transaction to finish, accepting her change and the receipt and then her bags of spoils. "Have a good day!"

"You too!" Anna responded back, stepping out of the cool store into the almost oppressive heat of Oshibana once again. Up ahead, she spots the Oshibana Library and decides to head in. She makes her way to the fiction section, ignoring the stout, stern-looking librarian who pauses book-keeping to hiss out a 'shh!' when she drops her spoils onto the table.

After browsing the fiction section for a few minutes, she selects a couple of books and brings them back to the table she claimed, sitting down and cracking one open. The first book she has is one that her mom used to read to her for bedtime stories, before the book was burned away. It doesn't take long before the setting and the story completely overtake her, transporting her into the world of the story.

She becomes completely absorbed, delighting in her quiet, peaceful surroundings. She's so comfortable, she doesn't even notice as time passes by. By the time she's finished the book, it's just past lunchtime. She isn't quite hungry yet though, so she stays right where she is, picking up another book. She'll go get something to eat when she's actually hungry.

Of course, she ends up regretting that decision two hours and six books later, finally meandering out of the library at a shocking three-thirty-seven pm. Sighing and lightly cursing herself for losing herself in the books that easily, she makes quick work of getting to the food vendors area of downtown Oshibana, and nearly cries with relief as soon as the delicious scents of cooking food graces her nose. She heads up to the first vendor she can find, and orders a plate of chicken tenders with a side of fries, as well as a slice of pepperoni pizza and a tall sweet tea. She waits patiently by the side for her food to be done, and once it is she takes it and heads over to the fountain.

Carefully setting her food down on the fountain wall and then her shopping bags against the wall, Anna takes a seat and digs through the bag, pulling out her sauce packets and the straw.

The first bite is like heaven personified to her growling stomach, and she's almost tempted to moan, but holds back so she won't embarrass herself. It's better to not make a fool of herself in a city where everyone knows who she is. Although, this small reminder doesn't apply to how fast she eats, apparently, because she just starts eating like she's going to die, only pausing long enough to breathe and drink.

Within no time, her meal is no more, and she finally feels relief. Just as she's taking a breath, she hears a commotion nearby. She looks up, and notices two kids, maybe a year or two younger than herself, in some kind of argument. With a frown, she glances around, noticing how the argument is quickly drawing the attention of others. Oshibana isn't typically the place you'll find a couple of kids in a screaming match, and almost more than half of the adults in the square look annoyed to all hell at the kids.

And so she heaves a sigh, rising to her feet and grabbing her bags and trash. As soon as she dumps the garbage in the can, she lets her face twist into one of her more frightening scowls, and she calmly and quietly looms over the kids, waiting for them to notice her. The one who first notices is the boy, and as soon as he catches a glimpse of her face, or more accurately the glare on it, he shrinks back with a flinch. The boy's flinch draws the girl's attention, and she too glances up, she has about the same reaction as he did.

"I don't suppose you bothered to observe your surroundings before getting into your little screaming match, did you?" Anna asks calmly. "Because if you had you would have noticed this is one of the busiest spots in Oshibana, and none of us honestly want to listen to your bitch fit. Now, you have two options here. You can either break it up and let us resume our lives without having to hear you air your dirty laundry, or you can keep going and I can resolve the situation myself. What's it gonna be?" Anna made sure it wasn't a mystery how she'd solve the problem, letting a magic circle form under her hand, although she didn't call forth any weapon. She was just letting them know she was a Mage, and a capable one at that.

The girl's face scrunched up, and she looks away. "We'll go away." She finally says, ignoring the boy's incredulous look. He's about to open his mouth, probably to protest, but Anna cuts him off with a wide, pleased grin.

"Great." Anna answers, and although the smile is still on her face, her dark eyes that she turns on the boy lets him know exactly what he's in for if he doesn't keep his mouth shut. "I'm glad you chose that, because I really don't recommend airing your dirty laundry for all of Oshibana to hear. Very bad for reputations and all that."

She leads the two into a less populated area of the town, where they won't be disturbing anyone. "This area of town doesn't see much traffic, and no one really lives or works around here. It's been pretty run-down ever since the buildings here caught fire. Since the fires destroyed everything with structural integrity, the town's mayor deemed it unsafe to live in and had it closed down. It's the perfect place to sort out your problems without bothering anyone."

"Thanks," The girl responds, her voice now a complete 180 from the shrill yelling she'd been doing.

"Don't worry about it. But you're lucky you didn't interrupt me while I was eating. If you had, I'd have been a lot harsher." She warned them. "I've got shit to do, so I'm gonna take my leave now. Try and keep the volume down if you can though?" With this parting message, Anna strolls back into the town square. As soon as she's there, she makes a left and heads for the park, remembering that the rare apple trees are still in season. The apple trees in Oshibana are pretty odd, both in their content, and in the fact that they don't typically bloom in apple season.

It's also an added bonus that these apples naturally replenish magic. So with a bounce in her step and a gleaming grin, Anna bounds off towards the park, her sweet treat in the forefront of her mind. Maybe if she can climb the tree without her skirt causing problems, she can even take a nap there. Maybe she shouldn't have worn a skirt today though, she decides soon after she arrives, though.

Staring up at the tall apple tree, she glances down at her skirt and frowns. But then, an idea hits her, and she quickly requips a pair of spandex shorts under her skirt, and she grins at her easy solution. Quickly, she scales the tree, ignoring how small branches try to stab her through her sandals, and she hauls herself almost to the top, where she then grabs an apple or two off a nearby branch, biting into one with a pleased hum.

This is the perfect way to relax. Up in a tall tree with a good snack, watching as Oshibana's people mill about.

...

Anna ended up staying in that tree well into the day, up until dinner came around. At that point, she finally descended, and acquired a nice meal once more. Once she was done eating, she vaguely remembered that there was a play that the local arts school was putting on in the park, and promptly raced right back to attend.

The play was a beautiful ode to an old Fiorian folktale Anna remembered being told as a child, and years later it never failed to bring tears to her eyes. It was a tragic one, where the titular main protagonists had been separated by a brutal slave trading incident which spurred a war to begin. The two met each other again, on opposite sides of the war, as the female protagonist had been brainwashed into joining the oppressor's side, while the male protagonist fought on the side of the resistance.

She watched, her eyes growing misty during the battle scene where the main characters argued with one another whilst in combat. Her heart ached for these characters, although they may or may not be real. The characters may not be real, but the emotions that she feels for them is.

The play is rather long, but it's well worth it. It ends with the war being won by the resistance, and the female lead has been recovered from the enemy, regaining her senses and memories in the process, although she lost a leg during battle. The male lead discharges from the resistance, now that his duty is over, and the two retire into the countryside where they can live without strife.

Anna wipes her tears away as she stands. She congratulates the art students and tells them it was a wonderful performance before she takes her leave. Around her, other patrons are speaking amongst themselves about the play and its wonderful characters and whatnot, some still a bit misty-eyed. She separates from this crowd, following the darker, lamplit street that leads to True Heart and its dormitory. She's ready for a nice, hot bath and her bed.

Little does she know, she won't be getting that bath. Her footsteps echo strangely down the silent street, surrounding her on all sides with the steady pattern. As the clock tower chimes ten o'clock in the distance, Anna's stomach curled up uncomfortably all of the sudden, a bad feeling surging through her blood. She can't explain it. It's so bizarre, but she has the feeling she should give her Keys to Hydra for now. There was just something in the air that rubbed her the wrong way, like something was going to happen, and she just didn't know _**what** _yet.

Thanks to her parents, Anna knew to never discredit her instincts. If they were saying something was wrong, then something's wrong. Besides, her Keys were _highly_ valuable on the black market, so if she had the chance to protect them, any chance at all, she was going to take it. Plus she wasn't helpless without them; she knew two other magic types, _and_ she had her best possible trump card up her sleeve. So, with that decision in mind, off to the Spirit Realm her Keys went.

And now, as she stalks down the lamplit street, ten Keys lighter and with a bounce in her step to the beat of Half a Million, she's sure she made a good choice. Even if she feels a bit unprotected without them, as silly as that notion is, even if her bad feeling doesn't make sense now, she knows she made the right decision.

The redhead takes a deep breath in, observing the tranquility of the night, when the air goes chillingly still, and the uncomfortable coil of suspicion curls tighter in her gut. Just then, a surge of magic makes her whirl around, and her reward is an immediate fist in the face. She backpedals, not expecting it, but is quick to recover. Apparently late night melee is on the menu, she surmises as her eyes attempt to survey the area around her, cursing how the streetlights have somehow all gone out.

She's just about to open her own Gate, if only for the advantage of nocturnal vision, when the next blow from her surprise attacker comes too fast for her to possibly see or even block. It hits her square in the face and she stands still for a second, vision blurry, before she falters and crashes to the ground. And in the pale moonlight, a fanged grin is illuminated as Anna's body is picked up, and the two disappear, not a trace left behind.

* * *

**Woo! Chapter eight is finished! I honestly can't wait to dive into this! I'm so excited! Oh, but this arc is kinda...dark? I guess? I dunno.**

**Next chapter will involve violence and a little bit of swear words, so keep in mind the chapter will be rated as T. Don't like it? Then don't read it.**

**See you all next chapter!**

**-Cosmos**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello everyone! How have you been? I've been great! Today's chapter, as I said in the author's note in chapter eight, is kinda dark. It has violence and a bit of swearing (prominently the f-word by way of Lauren Velanie), so keep that in mind. In any case, the end of chapter eight marks the beginning of this story arc! Welcome to the Lion's Den arc! Let's get right into it, shall we?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, all rights are reserved for Hiro Mashima and affiliates. Trust me if I owned FT, NaLu would have been canon way sooner. I also wouldn't have screwed with people's emotions with Jerza.**

**Chapter nine: From Enemy Claws**

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Everyone in True Heart and Oshibana are diligent to avoid getting in Lauren Velanie's way today. The steady, harsh glare on her face is enough to make even old people cry and run away. She is _not_ happy. She's going to kill someone. Anna, if she can manage to find the infuriating redhead.

Lauren is **NOT** happy. She's anything but. She's absolutely, irrefutably incensed. And with good reason, too. Anna doesn't pull disappearing acts very often, or at least she never used to, but when she does it's absolutely infuriating. "Anna!" The Dragonslayer shrieks with ire as she roundhouse kicks her partner's door open. Without a care in the world, the auburn-haired teen stalks in and begins assessing the space. Anna's dorm is neat and immaculate, although her bed has numerous books strewn across it. The bathroom is clean. The kitchenette is clean. But no Anna.

Nearly combusting in rage, Lauren glares angrily at one of the Caster books on Anna's bed. _"Anna, I swear to Chronos above, I will fucking kill your ass."_ She hisses under her breath, stalking out of the room and slamming the door behind her.

From then on, Lauren's day is spent searching for her currently missing best friend. She searches the entirety of the guild, including the S-Class lounge, the Girls Council room, the roof, the pool, most of Oshibana, and even sneaking into Master's office to look.

Nothing. Not a single trace of Anna. Goddamnit, Lauren thought she was over her funk! What could have happened? Maybe she had another episode. Maybe that's it. But somehow, a deep, unsettled part of her knows that isn't the case.

Almost defeated, Lauren plops down in a chair in True Heart's main hall, stewing in her emotions. Disappearing isn't like her. Anna doesn't just drop off the map without a word to anyone, aside from when she traveled to Magnolia after telling only Master where she was going. As far as the Dragonslayer was aware, Erza was on a job so Anna couldn't be at Fairy Tail. And it isn't like they have many people outside of the guild to hang out with. The only people they know that aren't in the guild are Anna's aunt and uncle, but Uncle Max is out of town with Aunt Jess and won't be back for another week, so that possibility is out.

Where the hell could she be? The Dragonslayer held back a whine, her anger giving way to worry. She knows damn well that Anna's an S-Class wizard and can definitely take care of herself, but that won't stop her from worrying over the irritating redhead. And the fact that Anna hadn't answered her Lacrima when she called for the third time only amplified Lauren's concern. Anna couldn't stand seeing notifications on her Lacrima, so she would have picked up by the second call.

As Lauren sat there waiting, minutes turned into hours, but she still refused to move, believing deep in her soul that Anna would walk through the doors right at that moment. Even as her stomach tightened painfully in hunger, and her back began to complain from her hunched position, she remained exactly where she was. She wanted to be there when Anna got back.

Of course, by eleven that night, her boyfriend Marcus approached her. "Laur, are you okay? You've been sitting there almost all day." He knelt next to her seat, his red-orange eyes gazing worriedly at her.

Sighing heavily, Lauren drops her head into her hands, frowning down at the floor. "It's Anna," She confesses. "I haven't seen or heard from her since before dinner yesterday. She isn't in her room, or anywhere in the guild. I searched all over Oshibana, including her Uncle Max's house, but he and Aunt Jess have been out of town for the past few days. I know she's not with Erza, 'cause she's out on a job. I tried scenting her, but the rain from last night would have washed away anything that could've helped me."

Marcus watches as she sits there, drained of all energy and filled to the brim with worry, and he feels another pang of concern hit him straight in the chest. "Laur, I'm sure Annie's fine. She's S-Class, and she has all those Diamond guys ready to knock someone's teeth in if they mess with her. Maybe she just wants some time to herself?" He asks, rubbing her back comfortingly. "It's a reasonable request; considering so much of her time is consumed by the guild, and remember, she's been in a bit of a mood since she got back from that job with Lillian. She could have just wanted some time to herself where she couldn't be interrupted."

"I guess." Lauren replied monotonously, gaze still locked on the floor. Marcus, knowing he can't do anything else, simply stays there with her and continues rubbing her back, offering his support without words.

 _'Anna, where are you?'_ The Dragonslayer wondered once again, desperate to find her sister. Even if they weren't related by blood, she and Anna were sisters. They forged their bond through kindness and that iron-clad relationship could never be broken.

And Lauren would be damned if she let her sister disappear off the face of Earthland so easily. She'd find Anna if it killed her. She just hopes she's okay

...

Anna is not okay. Not by any means.

Waking up upside-down _definitely_ isn't how Anna would ideally spend her weekend. Neither is having to watch a crazed, fang-toothed bastard grin as pain wracks her body over and over again. The bound redhead has to bite back a groan as she sees a lock of long, pastel purple hair swish into her line of sight. _'_ _Of fucking course'_ , she thinks with ire, teeth grinding as the knife digs into the meaty flesh of her thigh. "How does it feel, pretty girl? You won't be so pretty when I'm done with you." The woman hisses through her teeth as she makes another cut on Anna's smooth skin.

Torture is _SO_ fun, Anna thinks to herself sarcastically, watching as her blood trails down her tanned skin to the floor, trying to ignore the way her vision begins blurring and distorting. And as if being kidnapped and tortured wasn't enough, those psychopaths have her hanging by her ankles so her blood rushes to her head. Nothing like forcing a redhead to be a red _face._ Her hands are tied behind her back, bound tightly with magic-sealing cuffs so she can't even cast a spell. _'I'm gonna kill a bitch. Come on, when is Hydra gonna get off his ass and calls Alva or Vulpy down?'_ She grumbles, teeth clenching again as the knife is thrust into her torso.

And aside from the current knife-born pain, Anna personally feels like she's been struck with lightning a good seven times. Every touch makes her nerves react violently, sending each signal of pure, white-hot pain to her brain with astounding clarity. Not only that, but she can tell that her magic is shockingly unsteady, wavering and shuddering as if its undergone some serious trauma. Her throat is raw, and she can taste blood in her mouth, making her lips pull back a bit at the bitter taste.

"Your screams were positively beautiful, you know." Verina said casually, yanking the knife out of Anna's torso, only to shove it into her stomach again, this time higher. Once again, Anna is grateful that Verina isn't as good at anatomy as she seems to _think_ she is; had she put that knife any higher, it would be in Anna's heart. "When we were stripping your magic from you, the screams that you gave us..." She paused to shudder in what Anna couldn't help but believe was arousal of some demented sort.

Ah, so _that's_ why she feels like shit, the redhead rationalizes, ignoring the way her blood sluggishly begins crawling up her neck to her cheek. The revelation is far from comforting, though; because magic separation is EXTREMELY painful. For Chronos's sake, the goddamned Magic Council has even recognized it as a form of torture. It doesn't exactly tickle her fancy that these insane Lion's Den dill-holes stripped her magic out of her, pain aside. Magic always fetched quite a pretty penny on the black market, especially Celestial Magic. And the fact that Anna had three Magic types...well, Lion's Den would end up **VERY** rich if they decided to sell it. No, Anna wasn't happy at all.

Though, the redhead supposed she should just bless her lucky stars that Verina hadn't started using her magic on her, to her knowledge. That crazy bitch specializes in _Explosion Magic_ for Chronos's sake. She's been on the receiving end of it before, and it felt like getting hit by a magic mobile, but five times worse.

Just then, a commotion outside drew both captor and prisoner's attention, an explosion of some kind, wracking the building with shockwaves from top to bottom. Anna's lips spread into a positively predatory smirk. Just as Verina sauntered to the door to investigate, it went flying off its hinges, smacking her into the far wall, where she slid down to the floor, unconscious.

In the doorway, leg still raised in post-kick form, stood a triumphant, though positively enraged-looking Hydra. "Well, well, Anna-baby, you sure like getting into trouble, don'cha?" He greeted her with clenched teeth and burning sapphire eyes as Alvara rushed in and cut their Summoner down from her restraints. The redhead winced a bit as her back dropped into the blonde Spirit's arms, the soreness only now making itself apparent as her muscles and stab wounds began crying out in protest.

"It's time to get you out of here, Anna." Alvara said in her steady tone, although the homicidal glint in her dark blue eyes stated she wanted nothing more than to pay back the Lion's Den scum ten-fold for what they had inflicted onto her Master.

Of course, it wasn't long before things started going sideways. They weren't far from the Lion's Den's guildhall from Hell when the members started pouring from every exit and sprinted for all three of them. Now normally taking those grunts out would be no issue for Anna at all, but at the present moment her magic was currently hemorrhaging out of her just like her blood and she honestly felt like she was going to pass out at any second. And as Alvara was far too preoccupied with keeping Anna from bleeding out too heavily, Hydra was unfortunately on his own.

He seemed to understand this, because he then said the dumbest thing that's ever come out of his mouth since Anna became his Summoner. "Go! We're close to Magnolia! Once you're in Fairy Tail, you'll be safe!" Hydra urges his Summoner, and she's quick to hightail it out of there. He wouldn't tell her to run unless he was going to do something stupid; like dismissing himself and calling Vulpecula to call him at full power. Her wounds hurt terribly, and she's on the verge of passing out, but she keeps running at full tilt, knowing if she doesn't make it to Fairy Tail, she's a goner.

Alvara knows this too, which is why she forces her Summoner to run faster, trying to force her healing magic to do even the slightest bit of help, however it's fairly useless as they're both running for their lives at the current moment. Because of this, Alvara does her best to make sure Anna escapes, but there's only so far she can go before she herself needs to stop. "Keep going!" She urges her red-headed Summoner. "You're almost there!" She calls to her. Giving up on questioning, Anna blindly follows the order and pushes herself to get away.

As soon as Anna is out of her range of hearing, Alvara throws up a sturdy, bright blue barrier to prevent those Lion's Den freaks from following. She forces every last remaining shred of magic not currently in Anna into holding up the barrier. Alvara stands sentinel in front of her blockade, her dark blue eyes narrowed into the finest of enraged slits, daring anyone to test her. None of those sociopathic nightmares are going to get **anywhere** near Anna. Not if she has anything to say about it.

From the direction they ran from, Hydra's infuriated roar echoes and the ground trembles under the cacophonous sound, followed quickly by Vulpecula's deranged, villainous cackling. The blonde Spirit holds back a sigh, honestly used to the behaviors of her teammates and just hoping that Anna makes it to her destination without any problems.

Running through Magnolia, Anna ignores everything else around her, not even caring who she cuts off or scares with her numerous bloodstains. She just keeps on running, her only goal to get to safety. Her vision is double and keeps going out of focus, pain blurring everything around her. It's a miracle she hasn't run into anyone or fallen into the canal yet.

As soon as she sprints through the first arched gate to the building, relief floods her. Her adrenaline then runs out, completely spent, and she belatedly tries to stop but has too much momentum. The last vestiges of her running are keeping her on a collision course with the doors, and there's nothing she can do. She doesn't have enough room to stop, and even if she did have the room, she doesn't have the energy necessary. All she can do is brace herself for the hit, and wait for her remaining momentum to send her crashing into the doors and forcing them open.

From behind her, Levy can hear the doors being thrown open, but pays it no mind. After all, it was probably just Natsu returning with his standard greeting; kicking the door open without a care for who he may hit. However, with the lack of his usual "WE MADE IT BACK ALIVE", the bluenette turns around.

The shriek that rips from Levy's throat alerts everyone in the main guildhall, and they whirl around to see what the commotion is about. Leaning against the door, her clothing ripped and skin stained with blood, is Anna. Someone beat the hell out of her, and judging on her many, **many** injuries, they clearly had fun doing so. Simultaneous intakes of breath can be heard around the hall, their eyes drawing to the steadily growing pool of blood forming underneath the exhausted redhead.

"Lion's Den," The injured redhead whispers, staggering as she loses her grip on the door and begins falling to the floor. "They...want to...play.." She pants heavily, the black spots growing larger, obscuring her vision further. Her body drops to the floor, limp as she loses consciousness. Mirajane is quick to rush the girl to their infirmary, ordering Jet to find Porlyusica and Levy to call True Heart's Master immediately.

...

Meanwhile at True Heart, Master Kokoa, none the wiser to the calamity that has erupted in Magnolia, is relaxing at the bar and chatting with Ramon when her lacrima rings. Asking her lovely barkeeper to hold that thought, she picks up, discovering it to be one of Makarov's children, Levy. "Hello there, Levy. How may I help you?"

Levy's face was, strangely, twisted with panic, a vaguely haunted look in her hazel eyes. Unbidden, Kokoa feels suspicion begin to curl in her gut at the distress coloring the blue-haired girl's visage. "Please, you have to come quick!" She begged. "Anna just arrived and she's very hurt!" She burst out with, and Ramon froze, his eyes snapping to the lacrima with a speed that should have been frightening.

Almost immediately, Kokoa's peace audibly shattered around her. Her face remained calm and serene, although her unoccupied hand clenched hard enough to turn her knuckles white. "Is that so? And did she say anything?" She asked calmly, and Ramon began trying to scoot away, feeling the violent waves of magic rippling off of his Master.

In fact, everyone in the guildhall could feel it. Those closest to her also backed away, not wanting to be that close. A few of the younger members actually looked frightened, so Lillian hurriedly ushered them upstairs and away from the potentially horrific explosion.

Levy's mop of blue hair jerked up and down as she nodded, her face still twisted with worry. "Yes, but it wasn't much. She said something about Lion's Den, and how they wanted to play. And," Levy paused, looking rather sickened. "It looked like she'd been tortured." She revealed timidly.

Kokoa didn't bother asking Levy how she knew that. She recognized the Fairy girl and the look in her eyes. Levy had been one of the members that Phantom Lord's Gajeel Redfox had attacked during the last guild conflict. She knew how to spot someone who had been tortured. If Levy said Anna looked like she'd been tortured, then she'd almost definitely been tortured.

As much as the very thought sickened her to the core.

"Very well. I will be there very soon, and I'll be bringing True Heart's personal doctor, if that's alright. Keep me posted, if you will." Levy had just barely nodded when Kokoa abruptly cut off the connection, letting her lacrima fall silent and dark. The entirety of the guildhall was utterly still, the air tense and thick.

"Ramon, Nadia," She calls sternly. In an instant, a girl with dark bronze skin and pale green eyes appeared beside her, Ramon trailing behind her anxiously.

"Yes Master?" Nadia asked with an air of serenity, her pale eyes locked on her Master. Nadia was a girl who hailed from the country of Sin, a country that boasted strong magical power, an impressive trade system, and their rich chocolatey skin tones. Nadia herself was no different, a very formidable SS-Class Mage who had immigrated from Sin at a young age following the death of her ailing mother.

"You two are in charge until I'm back. My services are needed in Magnolia. No one is to leave the guildhall or dormitory without at least two other people. Is that understood?" Kokoa's dark magenta gaze cut into them like the sharpest of daggers, leaving no chance for them to say no, not that they would.

They both nodded, neither one saying anything as Kokoa turned on her heel and stalked away from the bar. They watched as she made her way up the stairs, vaguely hearing the steps creak as she ascended, exchanging worried looks. The steps don't creak unless Master is angry.

Nadia can't help but wonder just what has their Master so quietly enraged, but she can't ask anyone before their patron reemerge from the infirmary with their doctor in tow, and both of them descend the stairs post-haste, although the stairs still groan as soon as Kokoa's steps land on them.

Nadia does want to know what's gotten their Master all up in a lather, but refrains herself from saying anything. Instead, she keeps the guild members away and from asking anything, not wishing to test Kokoa's temper today. For her to be this enraged, _something_ bad happened.

She's going to ask Ramon when they're alone though.

...

Kokoa and Doctor Veric find Lauren sitting hunched over on the front steps of the guildhall, staring down at the ground beneath her feet. "Lauren, get up and follow me." The Master ordered. Slowly, Lauren's head rose, and she caught sight of the bags lining the Dragonslayer's eyes.

Inwardly, she felt a touch of sympathy for the girl, but smashed it down for now. Now isn't the time for sympathy. Now is time for action. "But, Master..What if she comes back soon? I want to be here-"

"Anna's in Magnolia." Kokoa cuts the Dragonslayer off. "We're going to get her now." Without waiting, she reaches down and snags Lauren's wrist in a vice-grip and drags the despondent Mage over to their Teleportation wizard Marie, who Ramon had alerted to be ready.

"Send us to Fairy Tail, Marie. Right away." Kokoa demands, throwing all pretenses of niceties out the window.

"Yes, Ma'am." Marie nods and the magic circle below their feet glows a bright yellow, obscuring their vision. Kokoa and Doctor Veric are the first to recover, dragging Lauren from the exit point of the circle before her eyes have recovered from the light show. The Wizard Saint strides single-mindedly straight up to Mirajane, the steady, stony look never falling from her face.

"She's in the infirmary with our healer, Porlyusica." Mirajane let her know without prompt. Nodding briskly, Kokoa alters her course and heads up to the infirmary with sharp, quick steps, Doctor Veric on her heels.

Finally as Lauren regained her bearings, she planted her feet firmly to the ground, her superior physical strength preventing Kokoa from dragging her any further. "Master!" She exclaims. "What is going on?! Why are we going to the infirmary? Where is Anna?!" She demands, fury and worry alike warring within her. She's furious at being dragged from True Heart without warning, but she's also beside herself with worry for her sister.

She glares hard at her Guild Master's back, watching as the woman slowly turns around, her gaze chilling and cutting Lauren to the very soul. Lauren vaguely feels Kokoa's grip slacken a bit, letting the Dragonslayer pull her wrist away.

"Lion's Den has attacked." The Master answers ominously. She doesn't give any other explanation, only striding forward, and opening the door to the infirmary. Doctor Veric follows her in, and shuts the door behind him before Lauren can shove herself inside.

Left standing alone in the hallway, Lauren plops down into the bench next to the door, hanging her head in her hands, her mind swimming dizzyingly. Only one thought is clear, resonating deep in her bones.

 _'I_ knew _something was wrong.'_

* * *

**BOOM! And that marks the end of chapter nine! Let me know in the reviews what you think! If you don't feel like reviewing, send me a PM if there's things you think I could do better, or if there's something you think I could have missed. I'm always open for your thoughts, as long as you're respectful.**

**Chapter ten is next, and I hope you like it.**

**-Cosmos**


	10. Chapter 10

**Not gonna bother with much of an opener, so let's just jump into it! Here's chapter ten!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, all rights are reserved for Hiro Mashima and affiliates. I only own True Heart, the people in it, and the premise of this story.**

**Chapter ten: Before The Storm**

* * *

Fairy Tail's infirmary is unnervingly silent, save for the both irritating and comforting beep of the heart monitor. The entire world seems to have gone dormant, not even the most rowdy of Fairy Tail's members causing noise downstairs. The last person who had spoken in a tone louder than necessary was immediately cowed by Mirajane and her terrifyingly sweet smile.

Lauren sighs inaudibly, her morose gaze locked on the form on the bed. She takes in the sight of Anna's unnervingly blank, sleeping face, and feels her hands clench into tight balls in her lap.

She should have known. She should have known that something was wrong! She should have said something!

But she didn't, and now Anna's hurt. Those sadistic Lion's Den bastards kidnapped her and tortured her. Hell, they would have killed her if Hydra and Alvara hadn't swooped in and got her out of there.

Her hands tighten further, knuckles turning white, a tight knot forming deep in her chest.

"Why do you keep getting hurt?" She whispers into the room, staring helplessly at Anna, begging for an answer. Anna remains unconscious, providing no sort of reprieve or answer for the Dragonslayer. Ever since Anna had initially collapsed in Fairy Tail's entryway, she'd been stuck in a pervasive coma-like state. Doctor Veric and Porlyusica had assured everyone that it was normal, especially if she'd been tortured as it appeared, but Lauren still couldn't let go of the feeling of _wrongness_. Anna should be lively and screaming in rage at people, not lying comatose in a bed and being constantly filled with healing magic from the Spirit Realm.

Chronos fucking above, it's almost as if Anna _**wants**_ her to hide her away in the hoard. It sure seems like it, what with how many times the redhead ends up getting hurt.

"You're a real piece of work, Anna.." Lauren whispers, but then as a memory begins washing over her, a small smile tinges her lips. "You haven't changed a bit."

It was the hair that caught her attention first. That long hair, flowing freely and shimmering like woven rubies in the wind. That beautiful scarlet hair had snagged her eyes, and refused to let go for even a second.

* Flashback *

_A young girl stumbles into town in exhaustion, bare feet braving the hot streets on their own as the sun mercilessly beats down on her auburn head. Her stomach twists uncomfortably from a lack of food, her mouth dry and tongue heavy._

_"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Startled, the auburn-haired girl looks up at the sound of the enraged shriek, watching blearily as another young girl chases a boy across the street. The girl has long scarlet hair, flowing in the wind in violent waves as she desperately races after the boy. "GET BACK HERE! I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU!" The little girl continues to scream as she runs after him, the boy shrieking all the while for her to leave him alone, calling her a demon._

_She watches, transfixed, as they run around, ignoring the shocked shouts of adults who get in their way. Her eyes, a startlingly deep emerald green, are locked solely on the girl, more specifically her hair. It's a dark red, long and flowing and the color of rubies. It's beautiful, and she can't stop staring. The auburn-haired girl continues following the streak of scarlet hair until the girl rounds a corner and disappears, still screaming at the boy._

_Just then, another girl, with golden-blonde hair pulled into a ponytail, races by, begging the first girl to stop. She disappears around the corner as well, though the shouts can still be heard for several minutes._

_The girl is left standing there for several long seconds, before the rumbling of her stomach grabs her attention once again. Fighting back a grimace, she heads down a different alleyway. She's so hungry, but the last time she tried swiping something from a food stand she got caught. She isn't really in the mood to get another whack._

...

_"Hey, are you okay?" Slowly and blearily, the girl looks up at the sound of someone asking a question. The girl looks up slowly to see a kind face giving her a worried look. It's...the red-haired girl from yesterday. She's crouching down, a worried looking smile tilting her lips. Her eyes are brown like the darkest chocolate, with long dark lashes framing them, her mouth turned into a gentle smile. "I'm Anna. What's your name?"_

_She hadn't noticed it before, but now that she's closer, she can see countless runes scripted on the girl's body. On her arms, her legs, her neck, even her face. They're golden, shining brilliantly in the sunlight. Is she some sort of goddess? A Spirit? The girl doesn't seem bothered by the runes at all, like they've been there her entire life._

_She's quiet for a few seconds, trying to find her voice. "Lauren. Lauren Velanie." She finally supplies, her throat drier than she'd thought._

_A blinding smile graces Anna's lips in response, and it's like she's looking at the sun. "Nice to meet you, Lauren! Are you hungry?" She asks, gaining a tired nod. Anna nods to herself resolutely and gently pulls Lauren to her feet. "Come with me, okay?"_

_Barely an hour later, Lauren and Anna sit inside a strange building that Anna called her 'guild hall'. Anna is careful to check up on her new friend, making sure she's eating and alright before tending to her own meal._

_"So what brings you to Oshibana, Lauren?" Anna asks, taking a sip of cherry soda. Lauren pauses mid-bite, slowly bringing her plate back to the tabletop. She chews what's in her mouth before answering._

_"I'm lookin' for my Ma, Luna." She says finally. "She disappeared a couple o' weeks ago."_

_"I'm sorry to hear that." Anna responded back, her eyes understanding. "When I was three, my big sister went missing, and my mama and daddy and me have been trying to find her ever since." She looks away, staring out the window. "We haven't found her yet, or even who might've taken her, but I know we'll find her someday. I mean, I've got to. Right?"_

_Lauren stays silent, staring down at her plate blankly. She misses Luna so much, but she has no idea where she could have gone. Lauren just woke up one morning and she was gone. Where could she be? Had she done something to make Luna angry? These thoughts have been running rampant in Lauren's poor mind ever since Luna went missing._

_Suddenly, Anna springs up from her seat, her arms up and fists clenched. A determined look is painted onto her face, and her dark eyes sparkle with promise. "Tell ya what? How about I stay with you until you find your mama, and you'll stay with me until I find my sister! Sound fair?"_

_Unbidden, Lauren feels a small smile work itself onto her lips. "Yeah," She agrees readily. "Sounds good to me."_

_That day marked the beginning of a beautiful friendship._

* End flashback *

And now that same kind heart who'd reached out to her so long ago was unconscious and healing from torture she never should have gone through.

Alvara told her that Lion's Den had stripped Anna's magic out of her. The very thought made enraged shivers crawl up and down her spine. Magic stripping is so utterly painful, ripping her heart out would've been kinder. It's no wonder Anna's been sleeping for this long; she needs to in order to recover from having her fucking magic ripped from her.

Magic is such a vital part of a wizard's life that it practically flows through their veins, right alongside their blood. When you're taking someone's magic, you're touching something that should never be touched by another living being and cruelly yanking it away from its home. It tears from your body and spirit in ways that is sickening. Some who fall victim to this torture die from the shock of it all.

She couldn't even imagine just how painful that feels herself, but she has a vague idea. The very thought of Anna being put through that much pain made her sick. And then there's all of her stab wounds, with the horrid stench of Verina all over them. Her teeth ground together, the Dragonslayer blood in her itching to make the crazy bitch pay for what she'd done. If that knife had been any any higher, Anna would have died.

Lauren didn't want to lose Anna. Aside from Luna, Anna was the first person to reach out to her, to offer her a helping hand. She'd unknowingly wormed her way into the Dragonslayer's heart, and Lauren would be damned if that irritating redhead escaped now. She'd invested too much time, energy, and love into that redhead for her to leave now. She's in for the long haul, whether she likes it or not.

Lauren didn't even realize when she started nodding off. In no time, she was fast asleep, her hand keeping a firm grip on Anna's, even in sleep.

...

When Anna slowly climbs back to wakefulness, she finds a blank white ceiling above her, and the steady, mildly irritating beeping of a heart monitor somewhere out of sight. She doesn't quite know where she is, but the slightly familiar feeling of magic in the air leads her to believe she's currently in Fairy Tail's infirmary. Her stomach and chest don't hurt anymore, and she can feel a slight hint of soothing healing magic, Celestial in nature.

A dry-lipped smile crosses her face. Alvara, the redhead realizes. Alvara must have dropped by and helped speed up her healing process.

"What were you thinking?" A harsh, clipped voice demands from her left, drawing her attention to see Hydra, hunched over and giving her a blank stare. She shrugs her shoulders to the best of her ability, having expected his hostility. She knows it's just masking his concern. He'd never outright say he was worried, but it seems the only way he can express it is through anger.

"I was thinking that I had a bad feeling that night, one that told me to put my Keys where they would be safe. I was right." Her explanation was lax, even to her, but she didn't bother to elaborate. She was _tired_ , goddamnit. Unfortunately for her, rest would have to wait, as her explanation only served to further infuriate her Spirit.

"You were completely defenseless!" He said heatedly, jumping to his feet and his glare worsens, narrowing his eyes into the finest of slits. At the words "completely defenseless", Anna felt her mood go down the drain.

"Hydra, I appreciate your concern, but _shut the fuck up._ " With a stern glare in his direction, she pulls herself up to rest her back against the headboard. "I knew damn well what I was doing when I put my Keys in the Spirit Realm. I got a bad feeling that night, so I did the only thing I could. My intuition is never wrong, but it's not a Chronos-damned danger detector! It can't tell me who's going to attack me or when, just that **some** danger is on its way! Believe me, had I known that Verina the Torture Bitch was aiming to grab me, I'd have kept your Key and Draco's. Probably." She explained, grabbing the glass of water from the side table and gulping down half its contents.

Hearing the "probably" at the end of her explanation, Hydra glares even harder.

"'Probably'? And just what the hell do you mean by that?" He snarls lowly. Anna rolls her eyes at his pissy attitude, crossing her arms defiantly.

"I _mean_ that Verina is goddamned certifiable, and that your Keys are worth even more than the damned Zodiacs. If she got my Keys off of me, she'd either sell them, call the Spirits out to make them watch me be tortured, or break them and send them back to True Heart. **_Excuse me_** for trying to protect everyone." The redhead hissed venomously, shifting in her bed, only to wince as her movement pulls at one of her wounds.

"Now if you'll excuse me," She starts back up, not letting him get even a single word out. "could you tell me what day it is and help me to the bathroom?"

Petulantly, Hydra keeps a steady glare at her. "It's Wednesday, the 21st." He bites out in a clipped tone. But in spite of his quietly seething anger, he gently helps her get out of bed and gets her to her destination. Once she's done, he helps her hobble back to the bed, plopping down into his chair as soon as she's settled. She very pointedly ignores just how much of a child he's being, knowing that bringing attention to it will only make him worse.

Hydra's head is turned away from her, his face set in one phenomenal scowl, and she rolls her eyes again. He's such a damned child.

Just then, the door to the room nearly comes flying off its hinges, giving Anna a proper heart attack and sending Hydra leaping to his feet, sharp claws suddenly adorning his fingers. The hard, protective look on his face fades though, as soon as he realizes the culprit of the interruption is not an intruder, but in fact Anna's teammates and one other person.

Anna lets out a sigh of relief, feeling and hearing her heart rate return to normal. Her eyes open, turning to get ready to give her teammates a very thorough tongue-lashing for scaring the Chronos out of her, when her eyes land on that fourth individual. It's Tristan, one of her guildmates, and his eyes are solely on her. Immediately, she feels all of her anger fall away, turning directly into embarrassment, and she tries to inconspicuously fix her hair, averting her eyes as far as they'll go without being obvious.

"Could you three, oh I don't know, _NOT_ bust the door open when Hydra's already like a cat on a hot tin roof? Chronos above, he's already so wound up I'm afraid he'll snap in two if the wind so much as blows." She bites out to her team with as much bite as she can manage, which right now isn't a whole lot. Hydra, hearing her call him a nervous mother hen, scoffs and turns away, letting his claws retract before he crosses his arms over his chest.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" Sunny cried, her blue eyes swimming with tears, worried or relieved, Anna can't quite tell. In response, Erin cocks an eyebrow, placing a hand on her hip.

"I wouldn't exactly say she's 'okay', Sunny. She got stabbed three times." Came Erin's dry, humorless response. Seeing Sunny flinch and her face turn dark, Anna locks her dark eyes on her pale blonde friend.

"Shut it, Erin. I'm alive and that's what frickin' counts. Not stab wounds, or cuts and bruises, or even magical stripping. I'm alive, which is the most important thing." She said, and her gaze bore into Erin's, daring the blonde Requip Mage to say something. Her and Erin's friendship was a bit of a strange one, Anna admits. At times, it seems like they never should have even met, let alone become friends, due to their wildly different personalities and outlooks.

Anna gives Erin quite a few passes, knowing that the blonde just isn't that good at social interactions that don't include jobs. She's just not that good with dealing with people, so Anna usually lets Erin's often brash approach go. Though in times like these, she finds no problem in putting the blonde in her place if she feels she's overstepped her bounds.

Erin, seeing the daring lure in her team leader's eyes, nods almost imperceptibly and says nothing else, realizing she'd been too harsh.

"You're not in any pain, are you?" Sunny asks, her voice less lively than it had been. She watched Anna with an unnerving amount of seriousness, seeming to track her every movement like she'd break into a million pieces. Anna smirked, rolling her eyes.

"No, Sunny, I'm not in any pain. Alvara made sure of that, so you can stop watching me like I'm gonna break." She said, watching as her words seemed to electrocute the blonde to her core. A light flush painted the embarrassed blonde's face, but the smile she'd worn before slowly returned thanks to Anna's snark. Lauren then strode over single-mindedly, and planted both hands firmly on Anna's shoulders, giving the redhead a look of stone-cold seriousness.

"If you ever do something like this again, I will lock you away in the hoard and even these morons," She pauses just long enough to gesture to Sunny, Erin, and Hydra. "won't be able to find you. Do you hear me?" The Dragonslayer threatened, a hint of a fang poking out from her mouth. Despite the threat, Anna can see just how much Lauren had been worried.

"Loud and clear. Now can you please get the hell off of me so I can brush my teeth?" The redhead answered expressionlessly, although she felt amusement when Sunny reached over and smacked Lauren in the back, not appreciating the 'moron' comment.

Laughing a bit at the unfiltered amount of snark in Anna's voice, Lauren obligingly relinquishes her hold on the redhead's shoulders, allowing Hydra to assist the redhead in getting to the bathroom. As she's scrubbing at her teeth, a million and one thoughts run through her mind. What provoked Lion's Den into attacking now? And why would they target her specifically? What is their endgame from doing this?

She spits the foamy toothpaste out of her mouth, glad that the minty freshness is erasing the god awful metallic taste of blood. As she raises her head once she's done, she locks eyes with her mirror image for just a second, taking stock of the fading bruise around her neck and the darker bruise on her shoulder that covers a bit of her collarbone. Almost unable to even look at herself anymore, she rips her gaze from the mirror, allowing Hydra and Lauren, who both hovered by the door, help her back to bed.

As Lauren is setting her down on the cot, Anna's eyes accidentally lock with Tristan's. They stay in that stalemate for what felt like hours, but was only a few seconds. As soon as she realized she'd been staring at him like a weirdo, she drags her eyes away, moving them to stare out the window, trying to will her face to not heat up.

Chronos, she must look like such a nutcase, just staring at him like that. She hopes she didn't have any of those goo-goo eyes that are such a staple of shoujo manga. That's all she needs. Her teammates and Tristan to see her with heart eyes. Lauren would never let her live it down. She'd have to kill the poor Dragonslayer.

Why?

Because Anna liked Tristan.

If you asked her, she'd of course deny it up and down, but she'd be lying. Anna wasn't an idiot. She knew her heart well enough to know what it wanted. And what it wanted was Tristan. She knew she probably wasn't his type though, after all she couldn't imagine his type would involve spending years hunting down her long-lost sister who could have very well been dead for all she knew. And she'd probably never tell him how she felt, not wanting to make him have to let her down. She knew he was a really nice guy, and she didn't want to put him in the position of having to let her down because he didn't feel the same.

Chronos, just the thought made her want to crawl into a hole and never come out. No, she's never telling him how she feels. Not even if it would save her life. Besides, she's a Spirit, so she'd survive even if a situation like that ever _did_ come around.

"Well..." Lauren trailed off, noting the stagnant, awkward silence of the room. Thankfully though, she hasn't seemed to pick up on Anna's thoughts or anything, which the redhead is grateful for. "I'm gonna go tell Master you're awake. You can send Hydra to come get us later, I can tell you've got some more talking to do." She said, dragging all three of her companions out of the door, ignoring every single one of their complaints, which were then cut off as the door slammed shut.

Hydra, who had been silently examining the door, suddenly spoke then. "I ain't gonna start up again with my complaints, cause I know you don't need any stress now. But we are going to talk about this again when you're fully healed, understand me?" His voice, that deep, dark baritone, leaves no room for argument. She nods her head, not even wanting to argue with him anyway, far too tired to even bother.

"You know this isn't over though, right Hydra?" She asks. "Lion's Den has made their move, and we all know that this won't stop, not unless we do something about it." Her own voice, though tired, held nothing but calm determination.

Hydra is quiet for for a second. Then, he sighs, threading his hands in his baby blue hair. "Yeah, I know, Anna. It's the calm before the storm."

* * *

**And that is the end of chapter ten! Welcome to the beginning of the Lion's Den arc, and I hope you have your big girl/boy/non-binary/gender-non-conforming panties on, because this train ain't stopping!**

**I can't wait for you all to see the next five chapters. Once I write them, that is XD**

**-Cosmos**


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